Centaur Nuclei: Sizes, Shapes, Spins, and Structure

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of Centaurs, examining their sizes, shapes, spins, and physical properties, highlighting observational biases, physical diversity, and implications for Solar System evolution.

Contribution

It offers new insights into Centaur physical characteristics, explores biases in current measurements, and discusses the influence of collisional history on their size distribution.

Findings

Most Centaurs have near-spherical shapes based on lightcurve data.

Centaurs show a broad size distribution influenced by collisional history.

Limited correlation between orbital parameters and physical properties.

Abstract

We present a wide-ranging but in-depth analysis of Centaurs, focusing on their physical and structural aspects. Centaurs, originating from the Scattered Disk and Kuiper Belt, play a crucial role in our understanding of Solar System evolution. We first examine how biases in discovery and measurement affect our understanding of the Centaur size distribution. In particular we address the strong dependence of the census on perihelion distance and the broad distribution of Centaur geometric albedos. We explore the rotational characteristics derived from lightcurves, revealing a diverse range of spin rates and photometric variabilities, with most Centaurs showing low amplitude lightcurves, suggesting near-spherical shapes. Additionally, we investigate the relationships between Centaur orbital parameters, surface colors, and physical properties, noting a lack of correlation between rotational dynamics and orbital evolution. We also address the influence of sublimation-driven activity on Centaur spin states, and the rarity of contact binaries. We then discuss some observational and modeling limitations from using common observations (e.g. visible or infrared photometry) to determine diameters and shapes. Following that, we give some points on understanding how Centaur diameters and shapes can reveal the `primitive' nature of the bodies, emphasizing the important role occultation observations play. We also then assess how the Centaur size distribution we see today has been influenced by the collisions in both the primordial Kuiper Belt and in the subsequent Scattered Disk. Finally, we end the chapter with a short narrative of future prospects for overcoming our current limitations in understanding Centaur origins and evolution.