PLATO: assessment phase and community preparation - Final Version

PLATO：评估阶段和社区准备 - 最终版本

• 批准号: ST/H000755/1
• 负责人: Don Pollacco
• 金额: $ 4.01万
• 依托单位: Queen's University Belfast
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2009 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FH000755%2F1
• 关键词: PLATO; assessment; phase; community; preparation

The PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) mission was selected along with three other M-class mission candidates for an assessment study in the framework of the ESA Cosmic Vision programme. It was short listed because of its important and high profile scientific objectives and its comparatively low technical risk. PLATO's main scientific goal is to study exoplanetary systems, by detecting and measuring exoplanet photometric transits in front of a large sample of bright stars, and by fully characterizing the planets and their host stars. In particular, this characterization will include seismic analysis of the planet host stars, providing accurate and reliable measurements of the masses, radii and ages of the host stars, hence allowing us to measure similar quantities for the detected exoplanets. Classical methods for characterizing stars, essentially based on their precise location in the HR diagram and its comparison with computed evolutionary tracks and isochrones, fail to provide the accurate and reliable stellar parameters that are needed. Masses cannot be known to better than 15%, while ages remain essentially undetermined for main sequence stars. New investigations, such as seismic analysis of exoplanet host stars, are therefore necessary to progress in this area. The current crop of missions MOST, CoRoT, Kepler (and the candidate SMEX mission TESS) are expected to bring essential results in our understanding of exoplanetary systems, but suffer limitations in terms of number of stars monitored, minimum planet size, maximum orbital period, precision in frequency measurements for asteroseismology. PLATO, as a next-generation mission after these pioneering experiments, will overcome these limitations, and provide us with a much better, much deeper investigation tool for studying the statistics of exoplanets and their evolution, as well as stellar structure and evolution. PLATO will therefore provide us with an unprecedented sample of fully characterized exoplanets, with accurate and reliable measurements of their masses, sizes and ages, from which exoplanetary system formation and evolution can be studied. Also, because PLATO will search for planets orbiting bright stars, it will provide key target lists, including earth analog systems, for further studies of planets, ideal for future ground- and space-based coronographic and/or interferometric facilities (eg ELT) and spectroscopic searches for bio-markers. This ability places PLATO central to statements in the STFC Delivery Plan/Roadmap and ESA Roadmap concerned with the occurrence of earth analogue systems and the emergence of life. In this proposal we bid for funding for the PLATO Phase A. The UK community is well represented on the PLATO Council (3 members) and are serious contenders for obtaining the PI for the Science Consortium (or at least co-PI). Hence we are influential in the design and implementation of the experiment itself. Within the UK we need to prepare both the exoplanet and asterosiesmology communities to engage with the mission as a significant level of preparation and organisation will be needed to fully exploit the datasets. On the technology front our efforts will concentrate on areas that we can already claim some leadership ie CCD procurement and characterisation, the design and construction of the focal plane, and data analysis and archiving. In each of these we can claim considerable relevant experience due to significant preparatory work for ESA's Eddington Mission (which had a similarly complex focal plane), the Gaia data pipeline and the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) archive and transit search software.

PLATO（行星凌日和恒星振荡）任务与其他三个m级任务候选者一起被选中，在欧空局宇宙视野计划的框架内进行评估研究。该项目因其重要而引人注目的科学目标和相对较低的技术风险而入围。PLATO的主要科学目标是研究系外行星系统，通过探测和测量系外行星在大量明亮恒星前的光度过境，并通过充分表征行星及其宿主恒星。特别是，这种特征将包括对行星宿主恒星的地震分析，提供对宿主恒星的质量、半径和年龄的准确可靠的测量，从而使我们能够对探测到的系外行星进行类似的测量。经典的恒星表征方法，基本上是基于它们在HR图中的精确位置，以及与计算的演化轨迹和等时线的比较，无法提供所需的准确可靠的恒星参数。已知的质量不能超过15%，而主序星的年龄基本上是不确定的。因此，新的研究，如系外行星主恒星的地震分析，对于这一领域的进展是必要的。目前的任务MOST、CoRoT、Kepler（以及候选的SMEX任务TESS）预计将为我们对系外行星系统的理解带来重要的结果，但在监测的恒星数量、最小行星大小、最大轨道周期、星震学频率测量的精度等方面受到限制。PLATO作为这些开创性实验之后的下一代任务，将克服这些限制，并为我们提供更好，更深入的调查工具，用于研究系外行星及其演化的统计数据，以及恒星结构和演化。因此，PLATO将为我们提供前所未有的具有完整特征的系外行星样本，并对它们的质量、大小和年龄进行准确可靠的测量，由此可以研究系外行星系统的形成和演化。此外，由于PLATO将搜索围绕明亮恒星运行的行星，它将提供关键目标列表，包括地球模拟系统，用于进一步的行星研究，这是未来地面和太空日冕和/或干涉测量设施（如ELT）和生物标记物光谱搜索的理想选择。这种能力使PLATO成为STFC交付计划/路线图和ESA路线图中有关地球模拟系统发生和生命出现的陈述的中心。在这个提案中，我们为PLATO a阶段的资金投标。英国社区在PLATO理事会中有很好的代表（3名成员），并且是科学联盟获得PI（或至少是共同PI）的有力竞争者。因此，我们对实验本身的设计和实施具有影响力。在英国，我们需要让系外行星和小行星学界做好准备，以便参与这项任务，因为要充分利用这些数据集，需要大量的准备和组织工作。在技术方面，我们的努力将集中在我们已经具有一定领导地位的领域，如CCD的采购和表征，焦平面的设计和构造，以及数据分析和存档。由于欧空局的爱丁顿任务（它有一个类似的复杂焦平面）、盖亚数据管道和广角行星搜索（WASP）存档和凌日搜索软件的大量准备工作，我们可以在每一个方面都声称有相当多的相关经验。

项目成果

The PLATO 2.0 mission

PLATO 2 0 任务

• DOI: 10.1007/s10686-014-9383-4
• 发表时间: 2014
• 期刊: Experimental Astronomy
• 影响因子: 3
• 作者: Catala

Two Transiting Hot Jupiters from the WASP Survey: WASP-150b and WASP-176b

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ab88db
• 发表时间: 2020-04
• 期刊: The Astronomical Journal
• 作者: B. Cooke;D. Pollacco;Y. Almleaky;K. Barkaoui;Z. Benkhaldoun;J. Blake;F. Bouchy;P. Boumis