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Deconstructing The Correlations Among Classical KBOs: In The End There Can Be Only One

Authors: Peixinho, Nuno

Ref.: American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #38.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society 40 (2008)

Abstract: The Classical Kuiper Belt Objects (CKBOs) are the only family of trans-neptunian bodies for which strong correlations between orbital parameters and surface colors have been found. Namely, there is a color-inclination correlation and a color-perihelion correlation. Physical explanations for these two correlations have been discussed in the context of collisional resurfacing models and of migration models. To present date, none of them provided an entirely adequate solution. More recently, colors of CKBOs have shown to correlate also with the Tisserand parameter relative to Neptune. I will discuss how each of these correlations relate with each other and how the color correlations both with perihelion and with inclination can be an artifact of an underlying and dynamically more relevant relation between colors and the Tisserand parameter. This result provides new insights on the color homogeneity of CKBOs up to 12 degrees of orbital inclination as well as on the distinction between the dynamically hot CKBOs, the dynamically cold CKBOs and the scattered disk objects (SDOs). Acknowledgements: The author acknowledges funding from the European Social Fund and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, ref: BPD/18729/2004).