Initial Planetesimal Sizes and the Size Distribution of Small Kuiper Belt Objects

TL;DR

This study compares observational data with theoretical models to determine that the Kuiper Belt's current size distribution reflects initial planetesimal sizes of about 1 km, with collisional evolution shaping smaller bodies over billions of years.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the Kuiper Belt's size distribution supports initial planetesimal sizes of 0.4-4 km and provides detailed modeling of size distribution changes due to collisional evolution.

Findings

Observed size distribution matches coagulation models with initial 1 km planetesimals.

Size distribution below 30 km has been significantly modified by collisions.

A deficit of ~10 km bodies and excess of ~2 km bodies reflect initial planetesimal mass distribution.

Abstract

We show, by comparing observations with theoretical models, that the observed Kuiper Belt size distribution is well matched by coagulation models, which start from an initial planetesimal population with radii of about 1km, and subsequent collisional evolution. We find that the observed size distribution for R > 30km has not been modified by collisional evolution over the age of the solar system, and that the size distribution below R ~ 30km has been modified by collisions and that its slope is well matched by collisional evolution models that use published strength laws. We investigate in detail the resulting size distribution of bodies ranging from 0.01km to 30km and find that its slope changes several times as a function of radius before approaching the expected value for an equilibrium collisional cascade of material strength dominated bodies for R < 0.1km. Compared to a single power law size distribution that would span the whole range from 0.01km to 30km, we find a strong deficit of bodies around R ~10km and a strong excess of bodies around 2km. This deficit and excess are caused by an excess mass in small planetesimals in the km size range that was left over from the runaway growth phase and that leaves a signature in the size distribution that is not erased after 4.5 Gyrs of collisional evolution. Observations of the small KBO size distribution can therefore test if large KBOs grew as a result of runaway growth and constrain the initial planetesimal sizes. We find that results from recent KBO occultation surveys and the observed KBO size distribution can be best matched by an initial planetesimal population that contained about equal mass per logarithmic mass bin in bodies ranging from 0.4km to 4km in radius. In addition, we find that we cannot match the observed KBO size distribution if most of the planetesimal mass was contained in bodies that were 10km in radius or larger.