First Science with CHARA Fringe Tracker: Imaging Planet-forming Disks around Young Stars

Monnier博士将利用干涉测量学的最新进展，开发一种研究年轻恒星天体的重要新工具：具有毫角秒角分辨率的“独立于模型”成像。该项目将使用新委托的密歇根州天文台-红色组合器进行，该组合器将格鲁吉亚州立大学高角分辨率天文学中心（CHARA）的所有六台望远镜连接起来。加州的威尔逊。CHARA的成像能力将进一步扩展，使用一个新的条纹跟踪器也由Monnier博士开发。这将被用来在一个波长上对阵列进行“相位调整”，同时在另一个波长上进行观测-这是一种用于干涉测量的自适应光学系统，该项目的科学重点是利用新的数量级的灵敏度改进，对处于行星形成过程中的年轻恒星天体的内盘进行成像。使用CHARA的双望远镜组合器对年轻恒星进行的初步观测已经揭示了来自尘埃破坏半径内的惊人的强烈辐射，暂时与热气体有关。其他证据也在积累，表明吸积盘的内部区域是相当动态和随时间变化的，成像将为发现这些变化的来源提供一个独特而强大的工具。这项研究有望揭示喷流爆发和磁盘不稳定性之间的联系，这可能对理解行星形成和随后的迁移至关重要。由于内盘的轨道时标不到一年左右，拟进行的多历元研究应能揭示任何团块或不均匀体的轨道运动，成像是一种通用能力，是可见光和红外干涉测量法所缺乏的，现在只有利用现有设施和新的光束组合技术才有可能。在这个项目中开发的软件和数据分析工具将提供给整个社区，并可应用于本项目以外的恒星天文学的各个领域。通过改进红外探测器，红外干涉测量法的进步成为可能。作为实验家和红外摄像机制造商，Monnier博士和他的团队将通过基于当今新型热红外摄像机的创新便携式展览概念与更多公众分享这些令人兴奋的发展。与安阿伯动手博物馆合作，将开发一种便携式可见红外立体摄像机系统，可部署在各种教学环境中。这个引人入胜的学习工具将允许所有年龄段的学生用“新的眼光”探索他们的宇宙。"

Dr. Monnier will build on recent advances in interferometry to develop an important new tool for studying young stellar objects: "model-independent" imaging with milli-arcsecond angular resolution. The project will be carried out using the newly commissioned Michigan Infra-Red Combiner, which links all six telescopes of the Georgia State University's Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) optical interferometer at Mt. Wilson in California. CHARA's imaging capabilities will be extended even further using a new fringe tracker also developed by Dr. Monnier. This will be used to "phase up" the array at one wavelength while observing in another - a kind of adaptive optics for interferometry.The scientific focus of this project is to exploit the new order-of-magnitude improvement of sensitivity for imaging the inner disks of young stellar objects in the process of planet formation. Initial observations of young stars using a two-telescope combiner at CHARA have already revealed surprisingly strong emission from inside the dust destruction radius, tentatively associated with hot gas. Other evidence is also accumulating that the inner regions of accretion disks are quite dynamic and time-variable, and imaging will provide a uniquely powerful tool for discovering the source of these changes. This research promises to uncover connections between jet eruptions and disk instabilities, likely critical for understanding planet formation and subsequent migration. Because orbital time scales are less than about a year in the inner disk, the multi-epoch studies to be carried out should reveal the orbital motion of any clumps or inhomogeneities.Imaging is a general-purpose capability that is lacking in visible and infrared interferometry, and is only now possible with current facilities and new beam combination techniques. The software and data analysis tools developed in this project will be available to the whole community and can be applied to diverse areas of stellar astronomy beyond this project.The advances in infrared interferometry have been made possible through the improvement in infrared detectors. As experimentalists and IR camera builders, Dr. Monnier and his team will share these exciting developments with the greater public through an innovative portable exhibit concept based around today's new thermal infrared cameras. Partnering with the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, a portable visible-infrared stereo camera system, deployable in a variety of teaching environments, will be developed. This engaging learning tool will allow students of all ages to explore their Universe with "new eyes."