The Existence of a Planet beyond 50 AU and the Orbital Distribution of the Classical Edgeworth?Kuiper-Belt Objects

BRUNINI, A.; MELITA, M. D.

ICARUS

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

Lugar: New York; Año: 2002 vol. 169 p. 32 - 43

0019-1035

We study the effects of a Mars-like planetoid with a semimajoraxis at about ∼60 AU orbiting embedded in the primordialEdgeworth?Kuiper belt (EKB). The origin of such an object canbe explained in the framework of our current understanding ofthe origin of the outer Solar System, and a scenario for the orbitaltransport mechanism to its present location is given. The existenceof such an object would produce a gap in the EKB distribution withan edge at about 50 AU, which seems to be in agreement with themost recent observations. No object at low eccentricity with semimajoraxis beyond 50 AU has been detected so far, even though thepresent observing capabilities would allow an eventual detection(B. Gladman et al. 1998, Astron. J. 116, 2042?2054; D. Jewitt et al.1998, Astron. J. 115, 2125?2135; E. I. Chiang and M. E. Brown1999, Astron. J. 118, 1411?1422; R. L. Allen et al. 2000, Astrophys.J. 549, 241?244; C. A. Trujillo et al. 2001, Astron. J. 122, 457?473;B. Gladman et al. 2001, Astron. J. 122, 1051?1066; C. A. Trujilloand M. E. Brown 2001, Astrophys. J. 554, 95?98). Finally, rangesfor the magnitude and proper motion of the proposed object aregiven.