On the 'Scattered' Inclinations in the Kuiper Belt

TL;DR

This study investigates the inclinations of Kuiper belt objects in mean motion resonances, showing they remain nearly unchanged from initial values, and explores how their distribution could have been shaped by early capture and resonance sweeping.

Contribution

It demonstrates that inclination changes in resonant Kuiper belt objects are minimal post-capture, and provides capture probabilities for high-inclination bodies, suggesting a broad initial inclination distribution or resonance sweeping effects.

Findings

Inclinations in resonance are nearly unchanged from initial values.

Capture probabilities remain finite for inclinations up to 35 degrees.

The current inclination distribution likely results from early capture conditions or resonance sweeping.

Abstract

This paper shows that the inclinations of bodies captured into mean motion resonances in the Kuiper belt have remained very nearly unchanged, being only slightly increased from initial lower values by migration and/or by long-term planetary perturbations. Thus the observed maximum as high as ~ 30 deg of the i's of bodies in resonance must reflect either a broad initial range at least to that level for capturable bodies or an elevating process possibly exemplified by the sweeping of secular resonances. We have obtained capture probabilities for 2 well-populated resonances, showing reduced but finite values for i's up to 35 deg. Whatever led to the present distribution must have produced increases in i for some, but not for all, resonant bodies in the belt.