Unseen Architectures: Revealing Low Mass Planets on Long Period Orbits

一个团队将发现并描述遥远恒星周围的新行星，以了解行星的形成。该团队将在类似于我们自己的太阳系的系统中探测低质量行星，这些小行星靠近它们的恒星，也有寒冷，更大的同伴。该小组将及时探测这些低质量行星，以便詹姆斯韦伯太空望远镜在其主要使命寿命期间进行后续工作。这一持续的调查可能会探测到在类太阳恒星周围可居住轨道上的类地行星。这项工作将由少数民族服务机构的本科生和硕士生进行。除了研究，学生还将准备相关的西班牙语外展内容，让当地社区参与进来，并更广泛地分享科学。学生们还将组织和运行每月西班牙语外展活动，与讲座，天文馆展示，和望远镜观看.长期运行的径向速度调查已经开始确定大行星远至10天文单位，从他们的主恒星.然而，他们的光谱灵敏度一直无法找到许多在凌日调查中无处不在的超级地球和次海王星，特别是超过1天文单位。EXPRESS摄谱仪的夜间精度为20 cm/s，精确地打开了这些先前测量所错过的参数空间。描述该地区的行星结构将直接测试卵石吸积模型，该模型预测缺乏内部超级地球和外部更大质量行星的系统。该团队将使用EXPRES极端精密径向速度摄谱仪来寻找距离其宿主恒星4个天文单位的低质量行星。该计划建立在4年的高节奏观测基础上，夜间光谱精度为20 cm/s。学生将积极参与观察，无论是远程和亲自。博士后将专注于减少光球噪音和表征行星大气和迁移路径。EXPRESS的超稳定仪器剖面允许使用时间序列光谱进行其他分析;该团队将通过线剖面变化和太阳变化分析来提高我们对光球活动的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

A team will find and characterize new planets around distant stars in order to understand planet formation. The team will detect low mass planets in systems similar to our own Solar System, small planets close to their stars that also have cold, more massive companions. The team will detect these low mass planets in time for follow up by the James Webb Space Telescope during its primary mission lifetime. This continuing survey may detect Earth-like planets in habitable orbits around Sun-like stars. This work will be carried out by undergraduate and masters students from a minority serving institution. In addition to research, students will prepare related Spanish language outreach content both to involve the local community and share science more widely. Students will also organize and run monthly Spanish language outreach events, with talks, planetarium shows, and telescope viewing.Long running radial velocity surveys have begun to identify large planets as far out as 10 Astronomical Units from their host stars. However, their spectroscopic sensitivity has been unable to find many of the super-Earths and sub-Neptunes that are ubiquitous in transit surveys, especially beyond 1 Astronomical Unit. The 20 cm/s nightly precision of the EXPRES spectrograph opens up precisely the parameter space that is missed from these prior surveys. Characterizing the planet architectures in this region will directly test the pebble accretion model, which predicts a lack of systems with inner super Earths and outer more massive planets. The team will use the EXPRES extreme precision radial velocity spectrograph to find low mass planets out to 4 Astronomical Units from their host stars. The program builds on 4 years of high-cadence observations with nightly spectroscopic precision of 20 cm/s. Students will actively participate in observing, both remotely and in person. A postdoc will focus on reducing photospheric noise and characterizing planet atmospheres and migration pathways. The ultra-stable instrumental profile of EXPRES allows other analyses using the time series spectra; the team will improve our understanding of photospheric activity through line profile variations and analysis of solar variability.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.