Collaborative Research: First Science with the Michigan Young STar Imager at CHARA (MYSTIC)

在过去的十年中，系外行星（围绕太阳以外的恒星运行的行星）的数量已增加到数千颗。绝大多数已知的系外行星与它们的恒星的距离比地球与太阳的距离更近。在恒星的距离上，这个间距太小而无法轻易解决。研究人员计划使用新技术（红外干涉测量法）和新仪器（MYSTIC）来研究类地行星是如何形成和发展的。对行星的初步研究表明，行星尺寸分布的差距在地球半径的 1.5 到 2 倍之间，研究人员将寻求证实或反驳这一结果。研究生和本科生将参与这项研究。研究人员还将与安娜堡动手博物馆合作，1）创建移动版本的博物馆展示，以巡回密歇根州；2）创建一个动手展览和展位，以前往密歇根州参加 NASCAR 活动，以便向目前可能不寻求 STEM 体验的观众提供科学推广。年轻恒星周围 1 个天文单位内的区域在天文尺度上实际上很小。然而，这个区域的物理现象具有巨大的影响：这是调节恒星质量吸积的地方，设定类地行星形成的初始条件，控制穿过年轻的富含气体盘的巨行星的迁移，内部金域的系外行星人口统计现在揭示了行星尺寸分布的差距，并且还表明可用的固体预算可能不足以解释已知的开普勒行星，至少使用当前的盘模型。为了直接解决行星形成理论和系外行星人口统计之间的密切联系，需要对年轻恒星的内部区域进行空间分辨成像。这只能通过红外干涉测量法来实现。研究人员将使用佐治亚州立大学 CHARA 阵列（世界上最长基线的光学/红外干涉仪），首次在 1.1-2.5 微米波长下以毫角秒角分辨率对年轻恒星进行成像。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The number of exoplanets--planets around stars other than the Sun--has grown into the thousands in the past decade. The vast majority of the known exoplanets have been found closer to their star than the Earth is to our Sun. At the distances of stars, this is too small a spacing to be easily resolved. The investigators plan to use a new technique (infrared interferometry) and a new instrument (MYSTIC), to study how Earth-like planets form and develop. Preliminary studies of planets suggest a gap in planet size distribution between 1.5 and 2 times the radius of the Earth, and the investigators will seek to confirm or disprove that result. Graduate students and undergraduate students will be involved in the research. The investigators will also team with the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum to 1) create mobile versions of museum displays that will travel the state of Michigan and 2) create a hands-on exhibit and booth to travel to NASCAR events in Michigan in order to provide science outreach to an audience that might not currently be seeking STEM experiences.The region inside 1 au around young stars is physically small on an astronomical scale. However, the physics in this region has an out-sized impact: this is where mass accretion onto the star is regulated, the initial conditions for terrestrial planet formation are set, and the migration of giant planets moving through the young gas-rich disk are controlled, Exoplanet demographics of the inner au now reveal a gap in the planet size distribution and also suggest the budget of solids available may not be enough to explain the known Kepler planets, at least using current disk models. To directly address the intimate connections between planet-formation theory and exoplanet demographics, spatially-resolved imaging of the inner au of young stars is needed. This can only be reached through infrared interferometry. Using the Georgia State University CHARA Array (the longest-baseline optical/infrared interferometer in the world) the investigators will image young stars with milliarcsecond angular resolution at wavelengths from 1.1-2.5 microns for the first time.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.