{
  "abstract": "Discovering solar system objects in time-domain survey data requires linking: determining which detections observed at different times were produced by the same moving object. In wide-field surveys, this association problem is challenging because detection catalogs are dominated by artifacts, variable sources, and other unrelated transients, creating a large combinatorial search over possible links. The problem is compounded when the cadence is sparse or the objects are faint, such that detections of a given object are not guaranteed to form same-night tracklets. We present an algorithm for linking single-opposition detections of solar system objects, such as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), that operates directly on individual detections rather than first forming tracklets. The method searches over trial orbits in a spherical-orbit parameterization, propagates detections to a common epoch, and identifies candidate objects as coherent clusters in the transformed coordinates. We demonstrate the pipeline on 12 months of Dark Energy Survey (DES) Supernova X3 field observations, a region with Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)–like cadence. The method achieves a linking efficiency of better than 98% on implanted synthetic objects and successfully recovers all nine known linkable TNOs in the field, while discovering 17 new TNOs.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "University of Michigan",
    "Center for Astrophysics—Harvard & Smithsonian",
    "Case Western Reserve University"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Thomas R. Ruch",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0403-0891"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Kevin J. Napier",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4827-5049"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "David W. Gerdes",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6942-2736"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Hsing Wen 省文 Lin 林",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7737-6784"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ctdv09vkrbgqt.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3847/psj/aea3f4",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "ctdv09vkrbgqt",
  "issns": [
    "2632-3338"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/aea3f4",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3103|Astro and Planetary Science"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7215115302",
  "pdf_url": "https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/aea3f4/pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "publisher": "American Astronomical Society",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ctdv09vkrbgqt.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:16Z",
      "native_id": "10.3847/psj/aea3f4",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/aea3f4"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "openalex:3103|Astro and Planetary Science",
      "subfield": "planetary"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Efficient Detection-level Linking of Trans-Neptunian Objects via a Spherical-orbit Basis",
  "title_text": "Efficient Detection-level Linking of Trans-Neptunian Objects via a Spherical-orbit Basis",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:18:16Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ctdv09vkrbgqt",
  "venue": "The Planetary Science Journal",
  "versions": []
}