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Most known trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) gravitationally scattering off thegiant planets have orbital inclinations consistent with an origin from theclassical Kuiper belt, but a small fraction of these "scattering TNOs" haveinclinations that are far too large (i > 45 deg) for this origin. Thesescattering outliers have previously been proposed to be interlopers from theOort cloud or evidence of an undiscovered planet. Here we test these hypothesesusing N-body simulations and the 69 centaurs and scattering TNOs detected inthe Outer Solar Systems Origins Survey and its predecessors. We confirm thatobserved scattering objects cannot solely originate from the classical Kuiperbelt, and we show that both the Oort cloud and a distant planet generateobservable highly inclined scatterers. Although the number of highly inclinedscatterers from the Oort Cloud is ~3 times less than observed, Oort cloudenrichment from the Sun's galactic migration or birth cluster could resolvethis. Meanwhile, a distant, low-eccentricity 5 Earth-mass planet replicates theobserved fraction of highly inclined scatterers, but the overall inclinationdistribution is more excited than observed. Furthermore, the distant planetgenerates a longitudinal asymmetry among detached TNOs that is less extremethan often presumed, and its direction reverses across the perihelion rangespanned by known TNOs. More complete models that explore the dynamical originsof the planet are necessary to further study these features. With observationalbiases well-characterized, our work shows that the orbital distribution ofdetected scattering bodies is a powerful constraint on the unobserved distantsolar system.

OSSOS XV: Probing the Distant Solar System with Observed Scattering TNOs