The Shapes and Spins of Kuiper Belt Objects
Lacerda, Pedro
Citation
Lacerda, P. (2005, February 17). The Shapes and Spins of Kuiper Belt Objects. Retrieved
from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/603
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Corrected Publisher’s Version
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Licence agreement concerning inclusion of doctoral thesis in the
Institutional Repository of the University of Leiden
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The Shapes and Spins
of Kuiper Belt Objects
Proe fsc h rift
ter verk rijg in g va n
d e g ra a d va n D oc tor a a n d e U n iversiteit L eid en , op g ez a g va n d e R ec tor M a g n ifi c u s D r. D .D . B reim er,
h oog lera a r in d e fa c u lteit d er W isk u n d e en N a tu u rw eten sch a p p en en d ie d er G en eesk u n d e, volg en s beslu it va n h et C olleg e voor Prom oties
te verd ed ig en op d on d erd a g 1 7 febru a ri 2 0 0 5 k lok k e 1 5 .1 5 u u r
d oor
Ped ro B ern a rd in o L a c erd a C ru z g eboren te L isboa , Portu g a l
Promotiecommissie
Promotor: Prof. dr. H .J . H abing
Referent: Dr. C. Dominik (Universiteit A msterdam) O verige leden: Dr. M. H ogerheijde
Dr. F .P. Israel
Dr. S . Kenyon (H arvard University, US A ) Dr. J . Luu (MIT Lincoln Laboratory, US A ) Prof. dr. G.K. Miley
Prof. dr. A . Q uirrenbach
There a re in fi n ite wo rld s bo th lik e a n d u n lik e this wo rld o f o u rs.
vii
Table of contents
Page
Chapter 1. In tro d u c tio n 1
1.1 The origin of comets . . . 1
1.2 The Kuiper belt . . . 7
1.3 Kuiper belt objects . . . 11
1.4 Thesis summary . . . 14
1.5 Future prospects . . . 16
Chapter 2 . D etec tab ility o f K B O lig htc u rv es 2 1 2.1 Introduction . . . 22
2.2 Definitions and Assumptions . . . 24
2.3 “ Flat” Lightcurves . . . 26
2.4 Detectability of Lightcurves . . . 28
2.5 Conclusions . . . 32
Chapter 3 . T he shape d istrib u tio n 3 5 3.1 Introduction . . . 36
3.2 Observations . . . 36
3.3 Discussion . . . 38
3.3.1 Gaussian distribution . . . 39
3.3.2 Power law distribution . . . 42
3.4 Summary . . . 45
Chapter 4 . A n alysis o f the ro tatio n al pro perties 4 7 4.1 Introduction . . . 48
4.2 Observations and Photometry . . . 49
4.3 Lightcurve Analysis . . . 52
4.3.1 Can we detect the KBO brightness variation? . . . 53
viii
4.5.2 Lightcurve amplitudes and the shapes of KBOs . . . 67
4.5.3 The inner structure of KBOs . . . 71
4.6 Conclusions . . . 74
Chapter 5. Origin and evolution of KBO spins 79 5.1 Motivation . . . 80
5.2 Spin evolution model . . . 81
5.2.1 General description . . . 81
5.2.2 Model Details . . . 82
5.3 Results and Discussion . . . 88
5.3.1 Eff ect of disruption energy scaling laws . . . 89
5.3.2 Eff ect of density . . . 89
5.3.3 High angular momentum collisions . . . 92
5.4 The origin of KBO spin rates . . . 94
5.4.1 Anisotropic accretion . . . 96
5.5 Limitations and future improvements . . . 101
5.6 Summary and Conclusions . . . 101
N ederlandse sam envatting (Dutch sum m ary) 10 5
R esum o em Portuguˆes (Portuguese sum m ary) 113
Curriculum V itae 119
