SIGNATURES OF COLLISIONS IN THE KUIPER-DISK

We explore the rate of collisionally-produced mass injection in the pr esent-day Kuiper Disk as a function of the total mass and population s ize structure of the disk. Our objective is to estimate the detectabil ity of IR emission from debris created by collisions. We find that ecc entricities in the Kuiper Disk are high enough to promote erosion on v irtually all objects up to similar to 30 km, independent of their impa ct strength. Larger objects, such as the 50-170 km radius ''QB(1)'' po pulation, will suffer net erosion if their orbital eccentricity is gre ater than approximate to 0.05 (approximate to 0.1) if they are structu rally weak (strong). Our model predicts a net collisional erosion rate from all objects out to 50 AU ranging from 3 x 10(16) to 10(19) g yr( -1), depending on the mass, population structure, and mechanical prope rties of the objects in the Disk. We find two kinds of collisional sig natures that this debris should generate. First, there should be a rel atively smooth, quasi-steady-state, longitudinally isotropic, far IR ( i.e, similar to 60 mu m peak) emission near the ecliptic in the solar system's invariable plane ecliptic, caused by debris created by the en semble of ancient collisions. The predicted optical depth of this emis sion could be as low as 7 x 10(-8), but is most likely between 3 x 10( -7) and 5 x 10(-6). We find that this signature was most likely below IRAS detection limits, but that it should be detectable by both ISO an d SIRTE Second? very recent impacts in the disk should produce short-l ived, discrete clouds with significantly enhanced, localized IR emissi on signatures superimposed on the smooth, invariable plane emission. T hese discrete clouds should have angular diameters up to 0.2 deg, and annual parallaxes up to 2.6 degrees. Individual expanding clouds (or t rails) should show significant temporal evolution over timescales of a few years. As few as zero or as many as several 10(2) such clouds may be detectable in a complete ecliptic survey at ISO's sensitivity, dep ending on the population structure of the Kuiper Disk.