J/AJ/165/241 Machine learning classified Kuiper Belt Objects (Matheson+, 2023)
A Measurement of the Kuiper Belt's Mean Plane From Objects Classified By Machine
Learning.
Matheson I., Malhotra R.
<Astron. J., 165, 241 (2023)>
=2023AJ....165..241M 2023AJ....165..241M
ADC_Keywords: Solar system; Positional data; Minor planets
Keywords: Classical Kuiper belt objects ; Kuiper belt ; Orbital theory ;
Celestial mechanics
Abstract:
Mean plane measurements of the Kuiper Belt from observational data are
of interest for their potential to test dynamical models of the solar
system. Recent measurements have yielded inconsistent results. Here we
report a measurement of the Kuiper Belt's mean plane with a sample
size more than twice as large as in previous measurements. The sample
of interest is the nonresonant Kuiper Belt objects, which we identify
by using machine learning on the observed Kuiper Belt population whose
orbits are well determined. We estimate the measurement error with a
Monte Carlo procedure. We find that the overall mean plane of the
nonresonant Kuiper Belt (semimajor axis range of 35-150au) and also
that of the classical Kuiper Belt (semimajor axis range of 42-48au)
are both close to (within ∼0.7deg) but distinguishable from the
invariable plane of the solar system to greater than 99.7% confidence.
When binning the sample into smaller semimajor axis bins, we find the
measured mean plane is mostly consistent with both the invariable
plane and the theoretically expected Laplace surface forced by the
known planets. Statistically significant discrepancies are found only
in the semimajor axis ranges 40.3-42 au and 45-50au; these ranges are
in proximity to the ν8 secular resonance and Neptune's 2:1 mean
motion resonance where the theory for the Laplace surface is likely to
be inaccurate. These results do not support a previously reported
anomalous warp at semimajor axes above 50au.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
table1.dat 196 1812 Table of non-resonant Kuiper Belt Objects
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See also:
B/astorb : Orbits of Minor Planets (Bowell+ 2014)
J/AJ/154/62 : Orbital parameters of Kuiper Belt objects (Volk+, 2017)
J/ApJS/236/18 : OSSOS. VII. TNOs complete data release (Bannister+, 2018)
J/AJ/156/33 : Resonance sticking in population of scattering TNOs (Yu+, 2018)
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/mpc.html : Minor Planet Center
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 7 A7 --- ID MPC identifier
9- 26 F18.14 AU a [36/150] Semi-major axis
28- 47 F20.18 --- e [0.001/0.79] Eccentricity
49- 67 F19.16 deg i [0.1/63] Inclination
69- 88 F20.16 deg Omega [0/360] Longitude of the ascending node
90-109 F20.16 deg omega [0/360] Argument of perihelion
111-131 F21.17 deg Man [0/360] Mean anomaly at epoch
133-150 F18.15 AU r [31/96] Barycentric distance
152-173 F22.18 deg beta [-56/41] Ecliptic latitude
175-196 F22.18 deg lambda [0/360] Ecliptic longitude
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) Prepared by [AAS], Coralie Fix [CDS], 04-Oct-2023