Accretion in the Kuiper Belt: The Deep Ecliptic Survey

柯伊伯带是太阳系行星范围外的一个由碎片和尘埃组成的环，是太阳系中行星吸积过程的最后、最原始的记录。大卫·特里林和他的合作者马克·布伊博士将研究柯伊伯带及其居民柯伊伯带天体(KBO)，以限制外太阳系中吸积的时间尺度。特里林和布伊都参与了正在进行的关于KBO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。拟开展的工作如下。特里林将在DES计划中进行新的观测。特里林和布伊还将实施一项全面的测光计划，用于校准DES星表。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，特里林和BUIE将对DES目录进行完整性测试。这三项任务为利用500DES KBO对柯伊伯带进行科学分析铺平了道路。科学分析的第一步将是结合其他调查的数据对DES数据进行统计研究，以极大的信心得出KBO的不同天空密度。这个数学表达式可以通过理论模型与吸积时间直接相关，以严格限制柯伊伯带吸积的持续时间。最后，将DES数据集与来自空间红外望远镜设施的最新可用的KBO反照率信息相结合，可以首次得出真实的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。这里得到的结果对于约束和驱动下一代外太阳系吸积模型将是至关重要的。这些模型的影响超出了柯伊伯带，因为太阳系(和太阳系以外)的行星作为其形成过程的一部分经历了吸积。该计划将主要通过参与亚利桑那大学太空赠款计划在社区中产生更广泛的影响。通过太空助学金计划，特里林每年将从不同的申请库中招聘一名本科生研究实习生。这一系列的学生将有特定的研究任务，包括参与观察跑步。特里林还将参加Space Grant的科学演讲者计划，在课堂上和公众面前展示科学成果。这样的计划独一无二地允许将知识带给种族、民族和经济多元化的社区。最后，除了公开宣传外，这项研究计划将产生一个广泛可用的广泛的光度学目录，并将校准大型DES档案，该档案也将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.