RII Track-4:NSF: Assessing the Impact of Jovian Planets on the Existence of Potentially Habitable Planets

在我们的太阳系中，木星和土星被认为在类地行星的形成和演化中发挥了重要作用，甚至可能对地球的宜居性起到了重要作用。然而，这种情况在多大程度上是高度不确定的，这限制了天文学家对巨行星是否会影响其他恒星周围潜在类地行星的宜居性的理解。这一奖学金将在PI和加州大学河滨分校的主要研究合作者之间建立合作，以解决这个问题。该项目将导致对行星系统结构的前所未有的详细了解，并将为类木星行星与其系统中其他行星的演化和引力相互作用提供新的线索，包括它们对宜居带中地球大小的行星的影响。这一合作将使PI的研究计划受益，因为它扩大了她和学员的技能集，并为他们提供了使用世界上最大的望远镜之一的机会。在获奖期之外，在研究金期间进行的研究将使PI成为下一代空间观测站发展的关键贡献者，该观测站被美国国家科学院确定为未来十年天文学的高度优先设施。这个天文台的主要目标将是实现人类最大的梦想之一：在另一个星球上发现生命。研究基础设施改进Track-4 EPSCoR研究员项目将为新墨西哥大学的一名助理教授提供奖学金，并为一名博士后研究员提供培训。这项工作将与加州大学河滨分校的研究人员合作进行。拟议研究计划的总体主题是详细评估巨型行星如何通过它们的形成以及与潜在宜居行星可能居住的行星系统内部的动力学相互作用来塑造宜居环境。具体地说，目标是确定最近的类太阳主序恒星的性质，并完善它们的宜居带边界；确定这些系统中是否存在(或可能存在)潜在宜居行星；并通过数值模拟限制这些系统中潜在宜居行星的动力相互作用和长期稳定性。主办地点是加州大学河滨分校。PI将与主要研究合作者斯蒂芬·凯恩合作，通过延长对主办地的访问来实现这些目标。通过这项合作，国际和平研究所和一名博士后研究员培训生将：从主要合作者及其研究小组获得光谱观测分析方面的专门知识；通过东道国的机构准入获得Keck望远镜观测；从主要合作者那里获得轨道动力学和运行系外行星系统动力学模拟的技能。该奖学金的结果将为宜居世界天文台的观测战略和观测解释提供参考，该天文台的主要目标将是直接成像类地系外行星并描述其大气层。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，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。

In our Solar System, Jupiter and Saturn are believed to have played a significant role in the formation and evolution of the terrestrial planets, and possibly even for the habitability of Earth. Yet the extent to which this is the case is highly uncertain, limiting astronomers’ understanding of whether giant planets affect the habitability of potentially Earth-like planets around other stars. This fellowship will establish a collaboration between the PI and the primary research collaborator at the University of California Riverside to address this question. The project will lead to an unprecedentedly detailed understanding of planetary system architectures, and will shed new light on the evolution and gravitational interactions of Jupiter-like planets with other planets in their systems, including their effects on Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone. This collaboration will benefit the PI’s research program by expanding her and the trainee’s skill sets, and providing them with access to one of the largest telescopes in the world. Beyond the award period, the research performed during the fellowship will position the PI to become a key contributor to the development of the next-generation space observatory, which was identified by the National Academy of Sciences as a high priority facility for astronomy in the next decade. This observatory’s primary objective will be to achieve one of humanity’s biggest dreams: finding life on another planet. This Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-4 EPSCoR Research Fellows project would provide a fellowship to an Assistant Professor and training for a postdoctoral fellow at the University of New Mexico. This work will be conducted in collaboration with researchers at the University of California Riverside. The over-arching theme of the proposed research program is a detailed assessment of how giant planets shape habitable environments through their formation and dynamical interactions with the inner parts of the planetary system where potentially habitable planets may reside. Specifically, the goals are to determine the properties of the nearest Sun-like main sequence stars and refine their habitable zone boundaries; determine whether potentially habitable planets are (or could be) present in those systems; and constrain the dynamical interactions and long-term stability of potentially habitable planets in those systems through numerical simulations. The host site is the University of California Riverside. The PI will work with Stephen Kane, who is the primary research collaborator, to reach these goals through extended visits to the host site. Through this collaboration, the PI and a postdoctoral researcher trainee will: gain expertise in the analysis of spectroscopic observations from the primary collaborator and his research group; obtain access to Keck telescope observations through the host site’s institutional access; and acquire skills in orbital dynamics and running dynamical simulations of exoplanetary systems from the primary collaborator. The results of this fellowship will inform the observing strategy and interpretation of observations for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, whose main goal will be to directly image Earth-like exoplanets and characterize their atmosphere.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.