Observations of planets and brown dwarfs: putting all the pieces together

我的研究计划的总体长期目标是确定我们银河系中行星系统的普遍性和多样性，了解这些系统是如何形成和演化的，理解行星大气层和内部所涉及的物理学，并最终探测宇宙其他地方的生命痕迹。在接下来的几年里，我将专注于进行观测，以发现和表征轨道分离、行星质量、恒星质量和系统年龄等尚未探索的新行星。通过这项观测工作将发现的数据将形成重要的基础，将在此基础上开发和验证所有巨行星和行星系统的形成、演化、内部和大气模型。具体地说，我将首先参与用双子座行星成像仪直接对附近年轻恒星周围的行星进行成像搜索。这是有史以来第一次，这项调查将探测和描述木星质量的行星，其轨道大小相当于我们的太阳系。除了确定这些分离的巨型行星的频率外，发现的行星样本将足以确定这一以前未见过的人口的全球属性。其次，我将对恒星形成区的行星和棕矮星伴星进行直接成像调查。这将首次系统和全面地评估大分离状态下巨行星的原始种群，帮助我们了解巨行星的形成和演化。它还将允许在巨行星形成后立即确定它们的物理特征。最后，我将领导一项凌日计时调查，以探测凌日系外行星系统中的系外行星和新行星。这项调查可能是第一次证实系外行星周围存在大型卫星。它还具有很好的潜力来识别一些最早的宜居世界，无论它们是围绕着巨型行星的卫星还是凌日系统中的类地行星。它还将补充其他对地球质量行星的搜索，并帮助完成人口普查和确定多个行星系统的配置。

The overall long-term objectives of my research program are to establish the prevalence and diversity of planetary systems in our galaxy, to understand how these systems form and evolve, to comprehend the physics involved in the atmosphere and interior of planets, and ultimately, to detect traces of life elsewhere in the universe. Over the next few years, I will focus on making observations to detect and characterize new planets in yet unexplored regimes of orbital separations, planet masses, star masses, and system ages. The data to be uncovered through this observational work will form the essential basis upon which all formation, evolution, interior and atmosphere models of giant planets and planetary systems will be developed and validated.Specifically, I will first participate in a direct imaging search for planets around young nearby stars with the Gemini Planet Imager. For the first time ever, this survey will detect and characterize Jupiter-mass planets with orbits the size of our solar system. Beyond establishing the frequency of giant planets at these separations, the planet sample uncovered will be sufficient to establish the global properties of this previously unseen population. Second, I will conduct a direct imaging survey for planet and brown dwarf companions to stars in star-forming regions. This will provide the first systematic and comprehensive assessment of the primordial population of giant planets at large separations, helping us understand the formation and evolution of giant planets. It will also allow determining the physical characteristics of giant planets immediately after they formed. Finally, I will lead a transit-timing survey to detect exomoons and new planets in transiting exoplanet systems. This survey could be the first to establish the existence of large satellites around exoplanets. It also bears a good potential for identifying some of the first habitable worlds, whether they are moons around giant planets or terrestrial planets in transiting systems. It will also complement other searches for Earth-mass planets and help completing the census and determining the configurations of multiple planet systems.