Collaborative Research: Imaging planet-forming disks around young Suns using a revolutionary infrared detector

在山顶上。威尔逊俯瞰洛杉矶，坐在由六个1米口径望远镜组成的Y形阵列中。与位于其他山顶的望远镜不同，这六个望远镜并不是相互独立使用的，而是统一使用，有效地形成了一个更大的望远镜--干涉阵列，其中每个望远镜的光学和近红外光与来自其邻近望远镜的光相结合。与单独使用1米望远镜相比，将6个1米望远镜作为干涉阵列进行操作，能够探测到天文信号源中更精细的细节(空间分辨率)。在6个1米望远镜之间的物理间隔从33米到331米的情况下，空间分辨率可以达到优于1毫弧秒的水平。这远远超过了最大的地面和轨道望远镜的分辨率，甚至比目前正在开发的极大望远镜(ELT)的分辨率高出一个数量级。该主题提案要求为开发和实施一个新的后端(检测仪器)提供资金，该后端称为MYSTIC(密歇根青年恒星成像仪)。神秘是一种用于查拉阵列的红外仪器，专门设计用来以世界上最高的角分辨率成像年轻太阳周围的行星形成盘。神秘仪器的主要进步是通过使用1)高科技光束合成器和2)新技术红外探测器实现的，前者将来自6个1米口径望远镜的光组合在一起，后者将合并后的光转换为电子信号。神秘仪器的核心是小型(320x256)SELEX eAd相机和重力光束合成器。近红外相机阵列是利用硅多路复用器的HgCdTe，读出噪声减少了一个数量级，这对于提高Chara阵列的灵敏度以实现计划的科学目标至关重要。神秘号的光学核心将是一个高度优化的集成光学组合器，通过与格勒诺布尔天体物理学和行星研究所的战略合作而提供。拟议中的计划将组建一个国际团队，为查拉和美国社区提供成像干涉望远镜，这将为恒星天体物理和系外行星研究开辟新的发现空间。

On the summit of Mt. Wilson overlooking Los Angeles sits a Y-shaped array of six 1-m aperture telescopes. Unlike telescopes located on other mountaintops, these six are not used independently of each other, but are instead used in unison to effectively form a single larger telescope, an interferometric array, in which the optical and near-infrared light from each of the telescopes is combined with the light from its neighbors. Operation of the six 1-m telescopes as an interferometric array results in the ability to detect finer details (spatial resolution) in astronomical sources than would be possible if the 1-m telescopes were utilized individually. With physical separations between the six 1-m telescopes ranging from 33 to 331 meters, spatial resolutions better than 1 milliarcsecond are achieved. This far exceeds the resolution of the largest ground-based and orbiting telescopes, and is even an order of magnitude better than will be possible with the extremely large telescopes (ELTs) currently under development. The subject proposal requests funding for the development and implementation of a new backend (detection instrument) called MYSTIC (Michigan Young STar Imager for CHARA). MYSTIC is an infrared instrument for the CHARA Array specifically designed to image planet-forming disks around young Suns with the highest angular resolution in the world. The major advances of the MYSTIC instrument are realized through the utilization of 1) a high tech beam combiner, which combines the light from the six 1-m aperture telescopes, and 2) a new technology infrared detector, which converts the combined light into an electronic signal.The heart of the MYSTIC instrument is the small format (320x256) SELEX eAPD camera and GRAVITY optical beam combiners. The near-IR camera array is HgCdTe utilizing a Si multiplexer with an order of magnitude reduction in readout noise, which is critical improving the sensitivity of the CHARA array to achieve the science goals of the program. The optical core of MYSTIC will be a highly optimized integrated optics combiner made available through a strategic collaboration with the Institut de Planetologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble. The proposed program assembles an international team to provide the CHARA and US communities with an imaging interferometric telescope that will open up new discovery space for stellar astrophysics and exoplanet studies.