Detection and Characterization of sub-Jovian Planets with NGTS (Next Generation Transit Survey)

NGTS（Next Generation Transit Survey）是一项雄心勃勃的新的地面过境调查，旨在发现小型气态系外行星以及明亮恒星周围的大型超级地球。NGTS将探测到数百颗恒星周围的气态行星，这些行星的亮度超过13 V等，这使得它们能够进行大量表征。NGTS由12台望远镜组成，由一个国际财团安装，位于智利帕拉纳尔的欧洲南方天文台地面。 NGTS于2015年首次亮相，目前正在定期获取数据。该计划的主要目标是利用NGTS数据深入了解小型气态行星的形成和演化。为此，我们的目标是凭经验评估木星和海王星之间大小的行星的出现率。我们将关注K型恒星周围的行星，并将其发生率与其他恒星类型周围的行星进行比较。对轨道周期、行星体参数、恒星类型、恒星日照和金属丰度的研究将是本研究的重点。我们还计划根据NGTS的经验数据，以及分析热亚木星行星的多样性，获得更好的约束。在NGTS联盟中，我们将积极参与行星探测和排名，并对光变曲线和径向速度数据进行建模，以表征探测到的行星。为了估计行星出现率，我们将对NGTS的行星探测效率进行详细分析，并将我们的结果与其他调查进行比较。NGTS联盟由一个国际团队组成，成员分布在智利，德国，瑞士和英国。申请人是联合体的共同主要研究者，可以访问所有NGTS数据。

NGTS (Next Generation Transit Survey) is an ambitious new ground-based transit survey built to discover small gaseous exoplanets as well as large super-earths around bright stars. NGTS will detect several hundred gaseous planets around stars brighter than 13 V mag, which allows for their bulk characterization. NGTS consists of 12 telescopes set-up by an international consortium and located on ESO ground at Paranal, Chile. NGTS has seen first light in 2015 and is now obtaining data on a regular basis. The prime objective of this proposal is to gain insights into the formation and evolution of small gaseous planets using NGTS data. For this purpose, we aim to empirically asses the occurrence rate of planets with sizes between Jupiter and Neptune. We will focus on planets around K type stars and compare the occurrence rates to planets around other stellar types. Dependencies on orbital period, planetary bulk parameters, stellar type, stellar insolation and metallicity will be a focus of this study. We further plan to obtain better constraints on the border of the sub Jovian desert based on empirical NGTS data, as well as analyzing the diversity of hot sub-Jovian planets. Within the NGTS Consortium we will take an active part in the planet detection and ranking, and model the light curves and radial velocity data to characterize the detected planets. In order to estimate the planet occurrence rates we will perform a detailed analysis of the planet detection efficiency of NGTS and compare our results with other surveys.The NGTS consortium consists of an international team with members located in Chile, Germany, Switzerland and UK. The applicant is co-PI of the consortium and has access to all NGTS data.