Exploring the Outer Solar System's Relics of Planet Formation

柯伊伯带是居住在海王星轨道之外的冰冷微行星的海洋。这些小天体是行星构造过程中的残余物质，是太阳系历史的化石记录。矮行星冥王星和厄里斯分别是已知的柯伊伯带天体中最大和质量最大的。大多数KBO都比冥王星小得多，通过研究它们的整体性质，我们可以了解太阳系中行星的形成。通过研究它们的形状、大小、组成、轨道和其他物理特征，我们可以探索巨行星的早期动力学历史，并探索太阳系原始星子盘的组成结构。大多数KBO太微弱，无法用地面望远镜进行光谱分析，但通过测量不同光学和近红外滤光器中的宽带颜色，我们获得了一个小行星表面成分的代理。通过测量一个小行星随时间的亮度，我们可以估计形状和测量旋转速率。该项目的主要目的是研究外太阳系小天体库的人口统计数据，并探索它可以告诉我们太阳系早期的条件。博士项目将侧重于执行，分析和解释地面光学望远镜的观测数据，以研究遥远太阳系微行星的物理和轨道特性，特别是通过外太阳系起源调查（Col-OSSOS）的颜色。Col-OSSOS是一个大型计划，利用双子座北望远镜和加拿大-法国-夏威夷望远镜收集近同时的光学和近红外光度测量，样本具有约80 KBO的良好特征。论文项目包括分析Col-OSSOS观测，并根据Col-OSSOS结果执行和分析额外的后续观测。特别是，学生项目将探索挥发性冰线过渡的可能位置，通过将动态海王星迁移模型与Col-OSSOS测光和Col-OSSOS样本的发现环境相结合，触发早期行星盘的颜色变化。

The Kuiper Belt is a sea of icy planetesimals residing beyond the orbit of Neptune. These small bodies are the material leftover from the construction of the planets and serve as a fossil record of the Solar System's history. Dwarf planets Pluto and Eris are respectively the largest and most massive of the known Kuiper belt objects (KBOs). Most KBOs are much smaller than Pluto, and by studying their ensemble properties we can learn about planet formation in our Solar System. By studying their shapes, sizes, compositions, orbits, and other physical characteristics, we can probe the giant planets' early dynamical history and explore the compositional structure of the Solar System's primordial planetesimal disk. Most KBOs are too faint for spectroscopy with ground-based telescopes, but by measuring broad-band colors in different optical and near-infrared filters, we obtain a proxy for a planetesimal's surface composition. By measuring the brightness of a planetesimal over time, we can estimate shape and measure rotation rates. The main aim of this project is to study the population statistics of the outer Solar System's small body reservoirs and explore what it can tell us about the conditions in the early Solar System. The PhD project will focus on the performing, analysing, and interpreting observational data from optical ground-based telescopes to study the physical and orbital properties of distant Solar System planetesimals, in particular through the Colours of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (Col-OSSOS). Col-OSSOS was a large program gathering near-simultaneous optical and near-infrared photometry with the Gemini North Telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope of a well characterized sample of ~80 KBOs. The thesis project includes analysing Col-OSSOS observations and performing and analyzing additional follow-up observations based on Col-OSSOS results. In particular, the student project will explore the possible locations of volatile ice line transitions that triggered color variations in the early planetary disk by combining dynamical Neptune migration models with Col-OSSOS photometry and the Col-OSSOS samples' discovery circumstances.