CAREER: Searching For Biosignatures in Exoplanet Atmospheres

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。未来几代天文学家的主要科学目标之一将是寻找其他星球上的生命迹象(生物签名)。这两个位于美国的ELT和美国ELT关键科学项目将确保美国天文学社区在未来十年参与寻找生物签名。然而，即使建造了ELT，也需要克服几个技术障碍，因为从角度分离和星光抑制的角度来看，该社区距离直接成像宜居行星还有几个数量级的距离。该计划将开发一种新的仪器概念来解决这些问题：双孔光纤零位器。所开发的概念验证仪器最终将安装在大型双筒望远镜(LBT)上，作为美国ELT计划中未来仪器的先导仪器。外展工作将包括在科学与工业中心(COSI)和俄亥俄州立大学举办一系列活动，庆祝系外行星的发现和由此产生的2019年诺贝尔奖。这些活动将包括以系外行星为主题的黑夜过后、诺贝尔奖获得者的公开讲座、新开发的天文馆展览和系外行星展览。这些材料将被带到俄亥俄州农村的学生手中。这项实验室演示将：(1)帮助更好地了解系统吞吐量中的误差预算，并确定需要改进的关键领域；(2)与使用ELTS的直接光谱分析的其他领先概念进行比较；以及(3)开发一种试验台，为ELTS的高对比度仪器奠定基础。这项设计参考研究的一个结果是，现实地估计了在LBT上部署试验台仪器的时间表。这种新的仪器可以作为踏脚石，解决利用ELTS寻找生物特征的技术障碍，例如亚波长/D分辨率的冠状照相和衍射限制的梯形光谱分析。同时，该团队将开发一个光谱建模框架，以应对在推断行星大气特性方面的挑战：(1)对照地面事实对性能进行基准测试；(2)将该框架应用于直接成像的系外行星；(3)处理光谱分辨率(10R100,000)和波长覆盖范围不同的数据集；以及(4)从气体巨型行星延伸到小型岩石行星。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). One of the key science objectives for coming generations of astronomers will be the search for signs of life (biosignatures) on other worlds. The two US-based ELTs and the US ELT Key Science Programs will ensure the US astronomy community's involvement in searching for biosignatures in the coming decade. However, even when the ELTs are constructed, several technological hurdles need to be overcome because the community is still orders of magnitude away from directly imaging habitable planets in terms of angular separation and starlight suppression. This program will develop a novel instrument concept that will address these problems: a dual-aperture fiber nuller. The proof-of-concept instrument developed will eventually be mounted to the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) as a pathfinder instrument for future instrument in the US ELT program. Outreach work will include a series of events at the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) and OSU to celebrate exoplanet discoveries and the resulting Nobel Prize in 2019. The events will include an exoplanet-themed After Dark Night, public lectures featuring Nobel Prize winners, a newly-developed planetarium show, and an exoplanet exhibition. This material will be brought to students in rural Ohio. This laboratory demonstration will: (1) help to better understand the error budget in system throughput and identify key areas for improvement; (2) compare with other leading concepts for direct spectroscopy with ELTs; and (3) develop a testbed that sets the stage for high-contrast instruments for ELTs. One outcome of this design reference study is to realistically estimate a timescale for deployment of the testbed instrument on the LBT. The new instrument can be a stepping stone to address technological hurdles to the search for biosignatures with ELTs such as coronagraphy at sub lambda/D resolution and diffraction-limited echelle spectroscopy. In parallel, the team will develop a spectral modeling framework to address challenges in inferring properties of planet atmospheres: (1) benchmarking performance against ground truth; (2) applying the framework to directly-imaged exoplanets; (3) dealing with data sets that vary in spectral resolution (10R100,000) and wavelength coverage; and (4) extending from gas giant planets to small rocky planets.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.