Ceinture de Kuiper | EPFL Graph Search

La ceinture de Kuiper (parfois appelée ceinture d'Edgeworth-Kuiper, prononcé en néerlandais : ) est une zone du Système solaire s'étendant au-delà de l'orbite de Neptune, entre 30 et (au). Cette zone en forme d'anneau est similaire à la ceinture d'astéroïdes, mais plus étendue, plus large et de 20 à plus massive. Comme la ceinture d'astéroïdes, elle est principalement composée de petits corps, restes de la formation du Système solaire, et d'au moins trois planètes naines, Pluton, Makémaké et Hauméa (Éris est un objet épars, situé au-delà de la ceinture de Kuiper). En revanche, tandis que la ceinture d'astéroïdes est principalement composée de corps rocheux et métalliques, les objets de la ceinture de Kuiper sont majoritairement constitués de composés volatils gelés comme le méthane, l'ammoniac ou l'eau. En dehors de Pluton, repéré dès 1930, et son double Charon, détecté en 1978, le premier objet de Kuiper fut découvert en 1992. Ce serait le principal réservoir des comètes périodi

Isotopic compositions of cometary matter returned by Stardust

Anders Meibom, François Robert

Hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopic compositions are heterogeneous among comet 81P/Wild 2 particle fragments; however, extreme isotopic anomalies are rare, indicating that the comet is not a pristine aggregate of presolar materials. Nonterrestrial nitrogen and neon isotope ratios suggest that indigenous organic matter and highly volatile materials were successfully collected. Except for a single O-17-enriched circumstellar stardust grain, silicate and oxide minerals have oxygen isotopic compositions consistent with solar system origin. One refractory grain is O-16-enriched, like refractory inclusions in meteorites, suggesting that Wild 2 contains material formed at high temperature in the inner solar system and transported to the Kuiper belt before comet accretion.

2006

Searching for dark matter in X-rays: how to check the dark matter origin of a spectral feature

Alexey Boyarsky, Oleg Ruchayskiy

A signal from decaying dark matter (DM) can be unambiguously distinguished from spectral features of astrophysical or instrumental origin by studying its spatial distribution. We demonstrate this approach by examining the recent claim of Loewenstein and Kusenko regarding the possible DM origin of the 2.5 keV line in Chandra observations of the Milky Way satellite known as Willman 1. Our conservative strategy is to adopt, among reasonable mass estimates derived here and in the literature, a relatively large dark mass for Willman 1 and relatively small dark masses for the comparison objects. In light of the large uncertainty in the actual DM content of Willman 1, this strategy provides minimum exclusion limits on the DM origin of the reported signal. We analyse archival observations by XMM-Newton of M31 and Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph) and Chandra observations of Sculptor dSph. By performing a conservative analysis of X-ray spectra, we show the absence of a DM decay line with parameters consistent with those of Loewenstein and Kusenko. For M31, the observations of the regions between 10 and 20 kpc from the centre, where the uncertainties in the DM distribution are minimal, make a strong exclusion at the level above 10 Sigma. The Fornax dSph provides a similar to 3.3 Sigma exclusion instead of a predicted 4 Sigma detection, and the Sculptor dSph provides a 3 Sigma exclusion instead of a predicted 2.5 Sigma detection. The observations of the central region of M31 (1-3 kpc off-centre) are inconsistent with having a DM decay line at more than 20 Sigma if one takes the most conservative among the best physically motivated models. The minimal estimate for the amount of DM in the central 40 kpc of M31 is provided by the model of Corbelli et al., assuming the stellar disc's mass to light ratio similar to 8 and almost constant DM density within a core of 28 kpc. Even in this case one gets an exclusion at 5.7 Sigma from central region of M31, whereas modelling all processed data from M31 and Fornax produces more than 14 Sigma exclusion. Therefore, despite possible systematic uncertainties, we exclude the possibility that the spectral feature at similar to 2.5 keV found in Loewenstein and Kusenko is a DM decay line. We conclude, however, that the search for DM decay line, although demanding prolonged (up to 1 Ms) observations of well-studied dSphs, M31 outskirts and other similar objects, is rather promising, as the nature of a possible signal can be checked. An (expected) non-observation of a DM decay signal in the planned observations of Willman 1 should not discourage further dedicated observations.

Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford2010

Searching for dark matter in X-rays: how to check the dark matter origin of a spectral feature

Alexey Boyarsky, Oleg Ruchayskiy

Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford2010