Computer Science – Performance
Scientific paper
May 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21821808c&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #218, #218.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011
Computer Science
Performance
Scientific paper
A spacecraft in a stable orbit that carries a telescope and high-performance coronagraph system can block out the light from a bright parent star in the optical well enough to take images of exoplanets around the star that shine with reflected starlight. However, in addition to exoplanets, the parent stars are also enveloped by debris disks. The presence of debris disks can either strengthen the case for exoplanet detection, if there are structures in the disk that suggest the formation of an exoplanet, or they can weaken the case for exoplanet detection, if the disks are so bright that neither disk structure nor the presence of an exoplanet can be detected in them. The contribution of the exoplanet itself to the image is a function of wavelength, size of the exoplanet, separation between the exoplanet and the parent star, and composition of the exoplanet's atmosphere. For a sun-like parent star at a distance of 10 parsecs, we consider the combined effect of a variety of debris disk structures and exoplanet spectra for both Earth-like and gas-giant exoplanets at planet-star separations of 0.5 AU, 1 AU, 5 AU, and 10 AU. For this work, we currently simulate a high-performance Phase-induced Amplitude Apodization (PIAA) coronagraph at several wavelengths in the optical and with telescope primary diameters ranging from 1.5 to 4 meters. Our results, in the form of signal-to-noise ratios of the model exoplanet and debris disk systems, predict which combinations of debris disk, exoplanet, and instrumentation parameters will be detectable for reasonable integration times, helping to inform more detailed future simulations and define mission and instrumentation specifications.
Cahoy Kerri Lynn
Fortney Jonathan J.
Guyon Olivier
Marley Mark S.
Stark Christopher C.
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