EPICS: direct imaging of exoplanets with the E-ELT
M. KasperJean-Luc BeuzitChristophe VérinaudR. GrattonF. KerberNatalia YaitskovaA. BoccalettiNiranjan ThatteH. M. SchmidChristoph U. KellerPierre BaudozLyu AbeEmmanuel Aller-CarpentierJ. AntichiM. BonavitaKjetil DohlenEnrico FedrigoHiddo HanenburgN. HubinR. JägerVisa KorkiakoskiP. MartinezD. MesaOlivier PreisPatrick RabouR. RoelfsemaG. SalterMathias TeczaLars Venema
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Presently, dedicated instruments at large telescopes (SPHERE for the VLT, GPI for Gemini) are about to discover and explore self-luminous giant planets by direct imaging and spectroscopy. The next generation of 30m-40m ground-based telescopes, the Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs), have the potential to dramatically enlarge the discovery space towards older giant planets seen in reflected light and ultimately even a small number of rocky planets. EPICS is a proposed instrument for the European ELT, dedicated to the detection and characterization of Exoplanets by direct imaging, spectroscopy and polarimetry. ESO completed a phase-A study for EPICS with a large European consortium which - by simulations and demonstration experiments - investigated state-of-the-art diffraction and speckle suppression techniques to deliver highest contrasts. The paper presents the instrument concept and analysis as well as its main innovations and science capabilities. EPICS is capable of discovering hundreds of giant planets, and dozens of lower mass planets down to the rocky planets domain.Keywords:
Direct imaging
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A NEW CONCEPT FOR DIRECT IMAGING AND SPECTRAL CHARACTERIZATION OF EXOPLANETS IN MULTI-PLANET SYSTEMS
We present a novel method for direct detection and characterization of exoplanets from space. This method uses four collecting telescopes, combined with phase chopping and a spectrometer, with observations on only a few baselines rather than on a continuously rotated baseline. Focusing on the contiguous wavelength spectra of typical exoplanets, the (u, v) plane can be simultaneously and uniformly filled by recording the spectrally resolved signal. This concept allows us to perfectly remove speckles from reconstructed images. For a target comprising a star and multiple planets, observations on three baselines are sufficient to extract the position and spectrum of each planet. Our simulations show that this new method allows us to detect an analog Earth around a Sun-like star at 10 pc and to acquire its spectrum over the wavelength range from 8 to 19 {\mu}m with a high spectral resolution of 100. This method allows us to fully characterize an analog Earth and to similarly characterize each planet in multi-planet systems.
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Abstract The last decade has yielded the first images of exoplanets, considerably advancing our understanding of the properties of young giant planets. In this talk I will discuss current results from ongoing direct imaging efforts as well as future prospects for detection and characterization of exoplanets via high contrast imaging. Direct detection, and direct spectroscopy in particular, have great potential for advancing our understanding of extrasolar planets. In combination with other methods of planet detection, direct imaging and spectroscopy will allow us to eventually: 1) study the physical properties of exoplanets (colors, temperatures, etc.) in depth and 2) fully map out the architecture of typical planetary systems. Direct imaging has offered us the first glimpse into the atmospheric properties of young high-mass (3-10 M Jup ) exoplanets. Deep direct imaging surveys for exoplanets have also yielded the strongest constraints to date on the statistical properties of wide giant exoplanets. A number of extremely high contrast exoplanet imaging instruments have recently come online or will come online within the next year (including Project 1640, SCExAO, SPHERE, GPI, among others). I will discuss future prospects with these instruments.
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Thousands of planets orbiting stars other than the Sun (exoplanets) have been discovered, and the pace of discoveries will only accelerate as new observing missions are deployed. As the state of the field moves from exoplanet detection to characterization we are inching ever closer to indepth determination of the properties of rocky planets within the so-called ‘habitable zones’ of their host stars. The question now becomes---how would we recognize the signs of habitability and life on a distant exoplanet? We must begin with the only known example of a habitable and inhabited world---our own. But Earth affords more than one glimpse into conditions on a lifebearing world. Throughout geologic time the prevailing atmospheric and chemical state of our planet has undergone titanic shifts including from a hazy, orange, oxygen-free, methane-choked global habitat to the oxygen-rich pale blue dot we now take for granted. Here, we discuss ongoing efforts by astrobiologists and astronomers to catalogue the potential signatures of habitability and life we may find elsewhere in the universe by using Earth---both present and past---as a laboratory for the possible signatures of inhabited exoplanets.
Habitability
Planetary habitability
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Context. The next generation of exoplanet hunters will be targeting hot Jupiter-like exoplanets orbiting around nearby stars through direct imaging. The high contrast needed for such planet finders requires optical surfaces free of high spatial frequency ripples that might remain in the post-coronagraphic image as quasi-static speckles.
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Habitability
Planetary habitability
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Abstract Polarimetry is a useful diagnostic of asymmetries in both circumstellar environments and binary star systems. Its sensitivity to asymmetries in systems means that it can help to uncover details about system orbital parameters, including providing information about the orbital inclination. Polarimetry can probe the circumstellar and/or circumbinary material as well. A number of significant results on binary systems have been produced by polarimetric studies. One might therefore expect that polarimetry could similarly play a useful role in studies of exoplanets, and a number of possible diagnostics for exoplanets have been proposed. However, the application of polarimetry to exoplanet research is only in preliminary stages, and the difficulties with applying the technique to exoplanets are non-trivial. This review will discuss the successes of polarimetry in analyzing binary systems, and consider the possibilities and challenges for extending similar analysis to exoplanet systems.
Circumbinary planet
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Direct imaging of exoplanets in reflected starlight will be a major step forward in atmospheric characterization. Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (former WFIRST) or concepts such as LUVOIR or HabEx will directly observe the starlight reflected from cold and temperate exoplanets. This will probe atmospheric depths that are not accessible in transit measurements. Direct-imaging technique will also allow us to study the atmospheres of non-transiting exoplanets. Here we present results from a recent work (1) where we aim to understand what information can be extracted from such direct imaging observations. We simulated direct-imaging measurements and performed retrievals to constrain the atmospheric properties of the exoplanet. We find that knowing the planet radius will be key to improve the atmospheric characterization. This will affect the predictions about the science outcome of direct-imaging missions, because most of the exoplanets accessible to direct imaging will lack a measurement of the radius. We apply our study to Barnard's Star b and discuss the prospects for characterizing the atmosphere of this nearby (d=1.8pc) super-Earth. (1) https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202038101
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At distances of only 3.3 and 3.6 pc respectively, ε Eri and ε Ind are two of the closest solar‐type stars. In addition, they both exhibit long‐term radial velocity (RV) trends indicative of planetary companions at relatively large separations, making them interesting for the purpose of direct imaging. Previously, we have reported the results of a deep imaging campaign of ε Eri at 4 microns, which, in combination with dynamical data, led to the exclusion of any planets more massive than 3 Mjup anywhere in the system. Here, we will briefly review those results, as well as the results using the same method for ε Ind A, where the massive planet or low‐mass brown dwarf implied by the RV trend was undetected, and similar constraints could be determined on the system parameters.
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The search for exoplanets includes the promise to eventually find and identify habitable worlds. The thousands of known exoplanets and planet candidates are extremely diverse in terms of their masses or sizes, orbits, and host star type. The diversity extends to new kinds of planets, which are very common yet have no solar system counterparts. Even with the requirement that a planet's surface temperature must be compatible with liquid water (because all life on Earth requires liquid water), a new emerging view is that planets very different from Earth may have the right conditions for life. The broadened possibilities will increase the future chances of discovering an inhabited world.
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