OSSOS. VIII. The Transition Between Two Size Distribution Slopes in the Scattering Disk

Abstract

The scattering trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) can be measured to smaller sizes than any other distant small-body population. We use the largest sample yet obtained, 68 discoveries, primarily by the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS), to constrain the slope of its luminosity distribution, with sensitivity to much fainter absolute $H$ magnitudes than previous work. Using the analysis technique in Shankman et al. (2016), we confirm that a single slope for the $H$-distribution is not an accurate representation of the scattering TNOs and Centaurs, and that a break in the distribution is required, in support of previous conclusions. A bright-end slope of ${\alpha }_b=0.9$ transitioning to a faint-end slope ${\alpha }_f$ of 0.4-0.5 with a differential number contrast $c$ from 1 (a knee) to 10 (a divot) provides an acceptable match to our data. We find that break magnitudes $H_b$ of 7.7 and 8.3, values both previously suggested for dynamically hot Kuiper belt populations, are equally non-rejectable for a range of ${\alpha }_f$ and $c$ in our statistical analysis. Our preferred divot $H$-distribution transitions to ${\alpha }_f=0.5$ with a divot of contrast $c=3$ at $H_b=8.3$, while our preferred knee $H$-distribution transitions to ${\alpha }_f=0.4$ at $H_b=7.7$. The intrinsic population of scattering TNOs required to match the OSSOS detections is $3\times 10^6$ for $H_r<12$, and $9\times 10^4$ for $H_r<8.66$ ($D\gtrsim 100$~km), with Centaurs having an intrinsic population two orders of magnitude smaller.

accepted for publication in AJ

References in corpus (11)

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Cited by in corpus (38)

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• OSSOS XV: Probing the Distant Solar System with Observed Scattering TNOs
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• Modeling the Formation of the Family of the Dwarf Planet Haumea
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• Perspectives on the distribution of orbits of distant Trans-Neptunian Objects
• OSSOS: The Eccentricity and Inclination Distributions of the Stable Neptunian Trojans
• OSSOS XII: Variability studies of 65 Trans-Neptunian Objects using the Hyper Suprime-Cam
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• Close TNO Passages as a Driver of the Origin and Evolution of Ultra-Wide Kuiper Belt Binaries
• Orbital dynamics landscape near the most distant known trans-Neptunian objects
• A Dearth of Small Members in the Haumea Family Revealed by the OSSOS Survey
• Transient Jupiter Co-orbitals from Solar System Sources
• Can the orbital distribution of Neptune's 3:2 mean motion resonance result from stability sculpting?
• OSSOS. XXIII. 2013 VZ70 and the Temporary Coorbitals of the Giant Planet
• A Non-Primordial Origin for the Widest Binaries in the Kuiper Belt
• Understanding the trans-Neptunian Solar system: Reconciling the results of serendipitous stellar occultations and the inferences from the cratering record
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• Crater production on Titan and surface chronology
• OSSOS: XXVII. Population Estimates for Theoretically Stable Centaurs Between Uranus and Neptune
• The current cratering rate on the regular satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus
• Evidence for Color Dichotomy in the Primordial Neptunian Trojan Population
• A new multiple-arc model of the resonant Kuiper belt objects -- Plutinos
• OSSOS finds an Exponential Cutoff in the Size Distribution of the Cold Classical Kuiper belt