TY - JOUR
T1 - ASTEROID LIGHT CURVES from the PALOMAR TRANSIENT FACTORY SURVEY
T2 - ROTATION PERIODS and PHASE FUNCTIONS from SPARSE PHOTOMETRY
AU - Waszczak, Adam
AU - Chang, Chan-Kao
AU - Ofek, Eran O.
AU - Laher, Russ
AU - Masci, Frank
AU - Levitan, David
AU - Surace, Jason
AU - Cheng, Yu-Chi
AU - Ip, Wing-Huen
AU - Kinoshita, Daisuke
AU - Helou, George
AU - Prince, Thomas A.
AU - Kulkarni, Shrinivas
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2015. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..
PY - 2015/9/1
Y1 - 2015/9/1
N2 - We fit 54,296 sparsely sampled asteroid light curves in the Palomar Transient Factory survey to a combined rotation plus phase-function model. Each light curve consists of 20 or more observations acquired in a single opposition. Using 805 asteroids in our sample that have reference periods in the literature, we find that the reliability of our fitted periods is a complicated function of the period, amplitude, apparent magnitude, and other light-curve attributes. Using the 805-asteroid ground-truth sample, we train an automated classifier to estimate (along with manual inspection) the validity of the remaining ∼53,000 fitted periods. By this method we find that 9033 of our light curves (of ∼8300 unique asteroids) have "reliable" periods. Subsequent consideration of asteroids with multiple light-curve fits indicates a 4% contamination in these "reliable" periods. For 3902 light curves with sufficient phase-angle coverage and either a reliable fit period or low amplitude, we examine the distribution of several phase-function parameters, none of which are bimodal though all correlate with the bond albedo and with visible-band colors. Comparing the theoretical maximal spin rate of a fluid body with our amplitude versus spin-rate distribution suggests that, if held together only by self-gravity, most asteroids are in general less dense than ∼2 g cm-3, while C types have a lower limit of between 1 and 2 g cm-3. These results are in agreement with previous density estimates. For 5-20 km diameters, S types rotate faster and have lower amplitudes than C types. If both populations share the same angular momentum, this may indicate the two types' differing ability to deform under rotational stress. Lastly, we compare our absolute magnitudes (and apparent-magnitude residuals) to those of the Minor Planet Center's nominal (G = 0.15, rotation-neglecting) model; our phase-function plus Fourier-series fitting reduces asteroid photometric rms scatter by a factor of ∼3.
AB - We fit 54,296 sparsely sampled asteroid light curves in the Palomar Transient Factory survey to a combined rotation plus phase-function model. Each light curve consists of 20 or more observations acquired in a single opposition. Using 805 asteroids in our sample that have reference periods in the literature, we find that the reliability of our fitted periods is a complicated function of the period, amplitude, apparent magnitude, and other light-curve attributes. Using the 805-asteroid ground-truth sample, we train an automated classifier to estimate (along with manual inspection) the validity of the remaining ∼53,000 fitted periods. By this method we find that 9033 of our light curves (of ∼8300 unique asteroids) have "reliable" periods. Subsequent consideration of asteroids with multiple light-curve fits indicates a 4% contamination in these "reliable" periods. For 3902 light curves with sufficient phase-angle coverage and either a reliable fit period or low amplitude, we examine the distribution of several phase-function parameters, none of which are bimodal though all correlate with the bond albedo and with visible-band colors. Comparing the theoretical maximal spin rate of a fluid body with our amplitude versus spin-rate distribution suggests that, if held together only by self-gravity, most asteroids are in general less dense than ∼2 g cm-3, while C types have a lower limit of between 1 and 2 g cm-3. These results are in agreement with previous density estimates. For 5-20 km diameters, S types rotate faster and have lower amplitudes than C types. If both populations share the same angular momentum, this may indicate the two types' differing ability to deform under rotational stress. Lastly, we compare our absolute magnitudes (and apparent-magnitude residuals) to those of the Minor Planet Center's nominal (G = 0.15, rotation-neglecting) model; our phase-function plus Fourier-series fitting reduces asteroid photometric rms scatter by a factor of ∼3.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84940782392&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/150/3/75
DO - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/150/3/75
M3 - مقالة
SN - 0004-6256
VL - 150
JO - Astronomical Journal
JF - Astronomical Journal
IS - 3
M1 - 75
ER -