Chasing Shadows in the Outer Solar System

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Degree type
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Graduate group
Physics & Astronomy
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Solar System
Kuiper Belt
Sedna
Occultations
Fresnel Diffraction
Fast Photometry
Astrophysics and Astronomy
Instrumentation
The Sun and the Solar System
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Abstract

The characteristics of the populations of objects that inhabit the outer solar system carry the fingerprint of the processes that governed the formation and evolution of the solar system. Occultation surveys push the limit of observation into the very small and distant outer solar system objects, allowing us to set constraints on the structure of the Kuiper belt, Scattered disk and Sedna populations. I collected, reduced, and analyzed vast datasets looking for occultations of stars by outer solar system objects, both working with the Taiwanese American Occultation Survey (TAOS) collaboration and leading the MMT/Megacam occultation effort. Having found no such events in my data, I was able to place upper limits on the Kuiper belt, scattered disk and Sedna population. These limits and their derivation are described here.

Advisor
Charles R. Alcock
Pavlos Protopapas
Matthew Lehner
Date of degree
2010-05-17
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