Space-based infrared interferometry to study exoplanetary atmospheres

Defrère, Denis; Léger, Alain; Absil, Olivier; Beichman, Charles; Biller, Beth; Danchi, W. C.; Ergenzinger, Klaus; Eiroa, C.; Ertel, S.; Fridlund, M.; Muñoz, A. García; Gillon, M.; Glasse, Alistair; Godolt, M.; Grenfell, John Lee; Kraus, Stefan; Labadie, Lucas; Lacour, S.; Liseau, R.; Martín, G.; Mennesson, Bertrand; Micela, G.; Minardi, Stefano; Quanz, Sascha P.; Rauer, H.; Rinehart, Stephen A.; Santos, N. C.; Selsis, F.; Surdej, Jean; Tian, Feng; Villaver, E.; Wheatley, P. J.; Wyatt, M. C.

doi:10.1007/s10686-018-9613-2

Cited by 33 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…(HabEx (Gaudi et al 2019) and LUVOIR (Roberge & Moustakas 2019) will also observe exoplanets, but with limitations to the UV and near IR.) Alternatively LIFE, the Large Interferometer for Exoplanets, is currently designed for the characterization of terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres (Defrère et al 2018;Quanz et al 2019).…”

Section: Resolution Noise and Number Of Eclipsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

SVEEEETIES: singular vector expansion to estimate Earth-like exoplanet temperatures from infrared emission spectra

Schreier

Städt

Wunderlich

et al. 2020

A&A

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Context. Detailed characterizations of exoplanets are clearly moving to the forefront of planetary science. Temperature is a key marker for understanding atmospheric physics and chemistry. Aims. We aim to retrieve temperatures of N 2 -O 2 dominated atmospheres from secondary eclipse spectroscopic observations of the thermal emission of Earth-like exoplanets orbiting G-, K-, and M-stars, using large-aperture future space telescopes. Methods. A line-by-line radiative transfer code was used to generate synthetic thermal infrared (TIR) observations. The atmospheric temperature is approximated by an expansion with the base vectors defined by a singular value decomposition of a matrix comprising representative profiles. A nonlinear least squares fitting was used to estimate the unknown expansion coefficients. Results. Analysis of the 4.3 µm and 15 µm CO 2 bands in the TIR spectra permits the inference of temperatures even for low signalto-noise ratios (S/N) of 5 at medium resolution. Deviations from the true temperature in the upper troposphere and lower-to-mid stratosphere are usually in the range of a few Kelvin, with larger deviations in the upper atmosphere and, less often, in the lower troposphere. Although the performance of the two bands is equivalent in most cases, the longwave TIR is more favorable than the shortwave due to increased star-planet contrast. A high spectral resolution, as provided by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) instruments, is important for retaining sensitivity to the upper atmosphere. Furthermore, the selection of an appropriate set of base functions is also key. Conclusions. Temperature in the mid-atmosphere, relevant for understanding habitability, can be suitably characterized by infrared emission spectroscopy with a resolution of at least 1000 (ideally ≈2500). Obtaining the necessary S/N will be challenging even for JWST, however, it could be feasible with future space missions, such as the Origins Space Telescope or the Large Interferometer for Exoplanets. In the meantime, a least squares fitting with an appropriate set of base functions is also applicable for other classes of planets.

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Section: Resolution Noise and Number Of Eclipsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

SVEEEETIES: singular vector expansion to estimate Earth-like exoplanet temperatures from infrared emission spectra

Schreier

Städt

Wunderlich

et al. 2020

A&A

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“…The main scientific aims of these missions were to gather measurements on the composition of rocky planet atmospheres, their habitability, the detection of biosignatures and the frequency of habitable and inhabited planets. Due to the really current scientific goals of these missions, they are discussed yet and, also if with a more simplified concept, still proposed [219][220][221].…”

Section: Platomentioning

confidence: 99%

Biosignatures Search in Habitable Planets

Claudi

Alei

2019

Galaxies

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The search for life has had a new enthusiastic restart in the last two decades thanks to the large number of new worlds discovered. The about 4100 exoplanets found so far, show a large diversity of planets, from hot giants to rocky planets orbiting small and cold stars. Most of them are very different from those of the Solar System and one of the striking case is that of the super-Earths, rocky planets with masses ranging between 1 and 10 M ⊕ with dimensions up to twice those of Earth. In the right environment, these planets could be the cradle of alien life that could modify the chemical composition of their atmospheres. So, the search for life signatures requires as the first step the knowledge of planet atmospheres, the main objective of future exoplanetary space explorations. Indeed, the quest for the determination of the chemical composition of those planetary atmospheres rises also more general interest than that given by the mere directory of the atmospheric compounds. It opens out to the more general speculation on what such detection might tell us about the presence of life on those planets. As, for now, we have only one example of life in the universe, we are bound to study terrestrial organisms to assess possibilities of life on other planets and guide our search for possible extinct or extant life on other planetary bodies. In this review, we try to answer the three questions that also in this special search, mark the beginning of every research: what? where? how?

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“…The latter has many advantages for space interferometry and should therefore be further investigated in the future. Being very small, of the order of a few centimeters, integrated optics make it possible to avoid the construction of large structures on satellites, and thus to reduce the risks associated with mechanical and thermal stress 7 . They also introduce additional correction of phase errors associated with the incident wavefront 8,9 , in addition to that already performed by single-mode optical fiber.…”

Section: Icso 2018 International Conference On Space Opticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a space-based nulling interferometer to detect and characterize exoplanets

Schifano

Defrère

Absil

et al. 2019

International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2018

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The development of small space-based platforms for nulling interferometric observations could be the pathfinder of a new era in exoplanetology. While planetary transit and radial velocity are the most productive ways to detect exoplanets, such techniques are indirect detections. For deeper characterization of exoplanets, direct detection techniques should be developed. By injecting direct light coming from exoplanets into spectrometers, we could study their chemical composition, search for biosignatures, and possibly infer the presence of life. The low number of photons to be gathered from the planets, high contrast with the star and small angular resolution are the major difficulties for a direct detection. However, nulling interferometry seems to be a solution to tackle these challenges. By combining the light of two or more telescopes, we would considerably increase the angular resolution, and thus could potentially lead to the detection of Earth-size rocky exoplanets around Solar-type stars. Moreover, with a πphase shift between the two interferometer arms, the starlight is reduced which allows the detection of much fainter objects around the star. In this paper it will be presented the development of a new mission based on nulling interferometry and dedicated to the Alpha Centauri system. As our nearest stellar system, it is a prime target to investigate for the research of new worlds. Monte-Carlo simulations about potential exoplanet yield of such an interferometer will be described, for different assumptions such as the detection wavelength and telescope size. Single-mode fibers and integrated optics will also be investigated for this mission. This could lead to low-cost type missions with a high potential of scientific return.

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Space-based infrared interferometry to study exoplanetary atmospheres

Cited by 33 publications

References 71 publications

SVEEEETIES: singular vector expansion to estimate Earth-like exoplanet temperatures from infrared emission spectra

SVEEEETIES: singular vector expansion to estimate Earth-like exoplanet temperatures from infrared emission spectra

Biosignatures Search in Habitable Planets

Development of a space-based nulling interferometer to detect and characterize exoplanets

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