RUI: Directly Observing the Assembly of Planets

首席研究员和她在阿默斯特学院的学生将开发所需的技术，以探测和描述在年轻的附近恒星周围形成的行星。在其他恒星周围已经发现了成千上万的行星，但关于行星如何形成仍然有许多谜团。开始解决这些谜团的一个有力方法是观察行星的诞生。这些“原行星”相对于它们所环绕的恒星非常暗淡，因此极难探测。这项研究将改进从恒星的明亮眩光中分离原行星光的微小闪烁体的技术。材料将开发，以帮助学生掌握重要的研究技能，而不是通常教科学课程。这些技能包括如何解读科学成果，以及在从事大型开放式项目时如何管理时间。原行星直接成像是高对比度成像领域的一个新课题。需要新的硬件和软件技术来隔离形成行星的光，并将其从形态复杂的共位拱星盘特征中分离出来。将采取双管齐下的办法，推进验证和解释潜在原行星探测的最新技术水平。(1)一个充分开发和测试的算法将被应用于严格的，数据驱动的优化可调参数的点扩散函数减法。(2)将利用对低质量吸积物体的多波长观测来开发和校准适合于亚恒星质量状态的吸积诊断。这项基础性工作将为行星形成过程、行星吸积过程和吸积变化时间尺度提供信息。研究团队还将解决本科生研究指导中的一个重要问题-缺乏严格开发和验证的指导材料。开始本科研究人员不仅要学习完成研究项目所需的科学背景和数据分析技能，还要学习如何有效地消化和严格分析已发表的科学成果，口头和书面科学交流，时间和任务管理以及领导和小组工作技能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识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 principal investigator and her students at Amherst College will develop the techniques required to detect and characterize planets forming around young, nearby stars. Thousands of planets have been discovered around other stars, yet there are still many mysteries about how planets form. One powerful way to begin solving these mysteries is to observe planets as they are being born. These “protoplanets” are extremely dim relative to the stars they orbit, and therefore extremely difficult to detect. This investigation will improve techniques for separating tiny glimmers of protoplanet light from the bright glare of their stars. Materials will be developed to help students master important research skills not typically taught in science courses. These skills include how to decipher scientific results and how to manage time when working on big open-ended projects. Protoplanet direct imaging is a new and a hotly debated topic in the field of high-contrast imaging. Novel hardware and software techniques are required to isolate the light of forming planets and disentangle it from morphologically complex co-located circumstellar disk features. A two-pronged approach will be conducted to advance the state of the art in validation and interpretation of potential protoplanet detections. (1) A fully developed and tested algorithm will be applied to rigorous, data-driven optimization of tunable parameters for point-spread function subtraction. (2) Multiwavelength observations of low mass accreting objects will be utilized to develop and calibrate accretion diagnostics appropriate for the substellar mass regime. This foundational work will inform planet formation processes, planetary accretion processes, and accretion variability timescales. The research team will also address an important issue in undergraduate research mentoring – the lack of rigorously developed and validated mentoring materials. Beginning undergraduate researchers must learn not only the scientific context and data analysis skills necessary to complete a research project, but also how to efficiently digest and rigorously analyze published scientific results, oral and written scientific communication, time and task management, and leadership and group work skills, among others.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.