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A. Campo Bagatin, P.G. Benavidez (Universidad de Alicante. Alicante (Spain))
The trans-neptunian region is yet another example of a collisional system of small bodies in the Solar System. In the last decade the number of TNOs with reliable orbital elements is steadily increasing and we can begin to try and compare collisional evolution models to observed populations. With this aim we are developing a model that takes into account the known physics of the fragmentation of icy/rocky bodies, including recently published experimental results, and that considers the different orbital characteristics of the different zones of the trans-neptunian region: plutinos, classical belt and scattered disk.
What was the primordial distribution in this region? Is the trans-neptunian belt collisionally relaxed? What fraction of the TNO population is likely constituted by gravitational aggregates? These are just some of the questions we would like to help and give an answer to with this research. Preliminary results are presented.
We thank our home institution, the Universidad de Alicante, Alicante (Spain), for supporting this research.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.