The DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP) VI: first multi-year observations of trans-Neptunian objects

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery and orbital characterization of 110 trans-Neptunian objects, mostly new, using digital tracking techniques over multiple years, revealing discrepancies with existing Kuiper belt models.

Contribution

First multi-year observations of TNOs using digital tracking, discovering 105 new objects and providing robust orbits and magnitudes, including a detached object at 76 au.

Findings

Discovered 105 new TNOs not previously known.

Achieved detection of objects with magnitudes around 26.

Found discrepancies between observed TNO populations and existing models.

Abstract

We present the first set of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) observed on multiple nights in data taken from the DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP). Of these 110 TNOs, 105 do not coincide with previously known TNOs and appear to be new discoveries. Each individual detection for our objects resulted from a digital tracking search at TNO rates of motion, using two to four hour exposure sets, and the detections were subsequently linked across multiple observing seasons. This procedure allows us to find objects with magnitudes $m_{VR} \approx 26$. The object discovery processing also included a comprehensive population of objects injected into the images, with a recovery and linking rate of at least $94\%$. The final orbits were obtained using a specialized orbit fitting procedure that accounts for the positional errors derived from the digital tracking procedure. Our results include robust orbits and magnitudes for classical TNOs with absolute magnitudes $H \sim 10$, as well as a dynamically detached object found at 76 au (semi-major axis $a\approx 77 \, \mathrm{au}$). We find a disagreement between our population of classical TNOs and the CFEPS-L7 three component model for the Kuiper belt.