WFIRST ULTRA-PRECISE ASTROMETRY I: KUIPER BELT OBJECTS

I show that the WFIRST microlensing survey will enable detection and precision orbit determination of Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) down to $H_{vega}=28.2$ over an effective area of ${\sim}17deg^2$. Typical fractional period errors will be ${\sim}1.5%{\times}10^{0.4(H-28.2)}$ with similar errors in other parameters for roughly 5000 KBOs. Binary companions to detected KBOs can be detected to even fainter limits, $H_{vega}=29$, corresponding to R~30.5 and effective diameters D~7 km. For KBOs H~23, binary companions can be found with separations down to 10 mas. This will provide an unprecedented probe of orbital resonance and KBO mass measurements. More than a thousand stellar occultations by KBOs can be combined to determine the mean size as a function of KBO magnitude down to H~25. Current ground-based microlensing surveys can make a significant start on finding and characterizing KBOs using existing and soon-to-be-acquired data.