Accretion in the Kuiper Belt: The Deep Ecliptic Survey

柯伊伯带是太阳系行星领域之外的一个由碎片和尘埃组成的环，它是太阳系行星吸积过程最后的、最原始的记录。David Trilling和他的合作者Marc Buie博士将研究柯伊伯带及其居民柯伊伯带天体（kbo），以限制外太阳系吸积的时间尺度。Trilling和Buie都参与了正在进行的大规模深黄道调查（DES），并将使用DES数据库作为他们科学努力的支柱。需要完成的任务如下。特里林将在DES项目中进行新的观测。Trilling和Buie还将执行一项全面的光度测量计划，该计划将用于校准DES目录。这两项观测任务都将广泛使用亚利桑那州和智利的望远镜。最后，Trilling和Buie将对DES目录进行完备性实验。这三项任务为利用500个DES柯伊伯带柯伊伯带天体的科学分析铺平了道路。科学分析的第一步将是对DES数据进行统计研究，并结合其他调查的数据，以强有力的信心推导出柯伊伯带天体的差异天空密度。这个数学表达式可以通过理论模型直接与吸积时间尺度联系起来，从而对柯伊伯带吸积的持续时间提供一个严格的约束。最后，将DES数据集与空间红外望远镜设施最新获得的KBO反照率信息相结合，可以首次推导出真实的KBO大小分布。这些技术任务和科学目标的智力价值在于寻求了解外太阳系是如何形成和演化的。这里得出的结果对于约束和驱动下一代外太阳系吸积模型至关重要。这些模型的影响超出了柯伊伯带，因为太阳系（以及太阳系以外）的行星在形成过程中都经历了吸积。该项目将主要通过参与亚利桑那大学空间资助项目对社区产生更广泛的影响。通过太空补助金计划，Trilling每年将从不同的申请者中招募一名本科生研究实习生。这一系列的学生将有具体的研究任务，包括参加观察跑步。特里林还将参加太空基金的科学演讲者计划，在课堂上和公众面前展示科学成果。这样一个项目独特地将知识带给种族、民族和经济多样性的社区。最后，除了向公众宣传外，这项研究计划还将产生一个广泛的光度目录，该目录将被广泛使用，并将校准大型DES档案，该档案也将可用于从太阳系科学到宇宙学的各种其他科学项目。

AST 0407232TrillingThe Kuiper Belt, a ring of debris and dust outside the planetary realm of our Solar System,is the last, most pristine record of the processes of planetary accretion in our Solar System.Dr. David Trilling and his collaborator Dr. Marc Buie will study the Kuiper Belt and its residents, Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), to constrain the timescale of accretion in the outer Solar System. Trilling and Buie both participate in the ongoing, large-scale Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES) for KBOs and will use the DES database as the backbone of their science endeavors. The tasks to be carried out are as follows. Trilling will make new observations in the DES program. Trilling and Buie will also carry out a comprehensive photometry program that will be used to calibrate the DES catalog. Both of these observing tasks will make extensive use of telescopes in Arizona and Chile. Lastly, Trilling and Buie will carry out completeness experiments on the DES catalog. These three tasks prepare the way for scientific analysis of the Kuiper Belt using the 500 DES KBOs. The first step of the science analysis will be to carry out a statistical study of the DES data in combination with other surveys' data to derive, with strong confidence, the differential sky density of KBOs. This mathematical expression can be directly related to accretion timescales through theoretical models to provide a tight constraint on the duration of accretion in the Kuiper Belt. Lastly, combining the DES dataset with newly available KBO albedo information from the Space Infrared Telescope Facility allows a true KBO size distribution to be derived for the first time. The intellectual merit of these technical tasks and science goals lies in the quest to understandhow the outer Solar System formed and evolved. The results derived here will be crucially important in constraining and driving the next generation of outer Solar System accretion models. These models have impact beyond the Kuiper Belt, as planets in the Solar System (and beyond) underwent accretion as part of their formation processes. This program will have a broader impact in the community primarily through participation in the University of Arizona Space Grant program. Through the Space Grant program, Trilling will recruit one undergraduate research intern per year from among the diverse pool of applications. This series of students will have specific research tasks, including participating in observing runs. Trilling will also participate in Space Grant's Science Speakers program to present science results in classrooms and to the general public. Such a program uniquely allows bringing knowledge to communities of racial, ethnic, and economic diversity. Lastly, in addition to public outreach, this research program will produce an extensive photometric catalog, which will be widely available, and will calibrate the large DES archive, which will also be available for use in various other scientific projects from Solar System science to cosmology.