Tootfinder

In-Situ Formation of the Cold Classical Kuiper Belt
Rixin Li, Eugene Chiang
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.04776 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2508.04776

In-Situ Formation of the Cold Classical Kuiper Belt
Cold Classical Kuiper belt objects (CCKBOs) are considered first-generation planetesimals that formed 42-47 au from the Sun and remained untouched since. Formation is thought to proceed by clumping of dust particles in protoplanetary disk gas by the streaming instability, followed by gravitational collapse. Previous calculations along these lines are inconsistent with the CCKB's supposedly pristine nature, because they assume orders of magnitude more solid mass than is actually present in the C…