Unveiling the Architecture of Nearby Planetary Systems by Direct Imaging, from Gas Giants to Habitable New Worlds

寻找可居住的岩石系外行星是天文学最后的前沿之一。这项任务相当困难，因为这些地球大小的小行星比它们的中央恒星质量小1000倍，可见光亮度低100亿倍。直接成像是唯一能够发现和描述附近类太阳恒星周围类地行星的技术。我整个职业生涯的主要目标是开发系外行星直接成像技术，最终实现对这些世界的发现和详细描述。最终的发现将是识别一颗遥远的系外行星上的生命信号。在接下来的5年里，我建议通过开展前沿科学观测和关键仪器开发项目来扩大我开始的工作。 我的主要短期科学目标将是继续参与大型观测活动，使用双子座望远镜的双子星行星成像仪(GPI)、斯巴鲁的SCExao仪器和即将到来的詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜(JWST)，以发现、表征和得出年轻的气态和冰态巨星的分布，这些都是我们可以用当前和不久的将来成像仪器发现的。由于目前通过直接成像知道的只有少数几个，还需要更多的数据来得出有意义的统计数据。新系统的发现和表征对于了解它们的轨道参数/分布、它们的组成、它们的云、它们的多行星相互作用以及了解它们的形成过程是基本的。 对于仪器项目，我的重点将是开发变革性的技术，这些技术将在未来十年内，在太阳附近发现地球大小的岩石系外行星。这些仪器的工作将是我新的高对比度成像NRC实验室--新地球的一部分。这个实验室是加拿大第一个在世界范围内只有几个可与之媲美的实验室，将是我的团队未来十年专注于仪器的研究活动的中心部分。前两个项目将是(1)牵头升级双子座行星成像仪(目前由我目前的博士生在长凳上组装)，以及(2)完成10微米成像仪原型的设计和测试，以搜索半人马座阿尔法星系中宜居系外行星的热特征。未来的工作将集中在可见光波段高对比度成像解决方案和先进的光谱表征系统。 拟议的研究计划将扩大和扩大我5年前用我之前的NSERC资助开始与维多利亚大学学生一起开展的工作。通过使用我们新的地球实验室来设计、测试和部署前沿技术，通过地面和空间仪器开展令人兴奋的科学活动，以及取得突破性发现，我预计我们的团队将为搜索地球2.0和太阳系外的生命做出重大贡献。

The search for rocky habitable exoplanets is one of the last frontiers of astronomy. The task is quite difficult, as those small Earth-size planets are 1,000x less massive and up to 10 billion times fainter at visible light than their central star. Direct imaging is the only technique that will allow the discovery and characterization of Earth-like planets around nearby Sun-like stars. My main career-long objective is to develop the technology for direct exoplanet imaging to finally allow the discovery and the detailed characterization of these worlds. The ultimate discovery would be the identification of life signatures on a distant exoplanet. For the next 5 years, I am proposing to expand the work that I started by performing frontier science observations and key instrument development projects. My main short-term science objective will be to continue my involvement in large observing campaigns, using the Gemini Planet Imager instrument (GPI) at the Gemini telescope, the SCExAO instrument at Subaru, and the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), to find, to characterize, and to derive the distribution of young gas- and ice-giants, the ones we can discover with current and near future imaging instruments. With only a handful currently known by direct imaging, more are needed to derive meaningful statistics. The discovery and characterization of new systems is fundamental for understanding their orbital parameters/distribution, their composition, their clouds, their multi-planet interactions, and for learning about their formation process. For instrumentation projects, my focus will be on developing transformative technologies that will enable, in the next decade, the imaging discovery of Earth-size rocky exoplanets in the solar neighborhood. These instrument efforts will be part of my new high-contrast imaging NRC laboratory, NEW EARTH. This laboratory, the first in Canada with only a few comparable worldwide, will be the center piece of my team instrument-focus research activities for the next decade. The first two projects will be to (1) take the lead of a Gemini Planet Imager upgrade (currently being assembled on the bench by my current PhD student), and to (2) finish designing and testing a 10 microns imager prototype to search for the thermal signature of habitable exoplanets in the Alpha Centauri system. Future work will focus on visible-band high-contrast imaging solutions and advanced spectral characterization systems. The proposed research program will expand and amplify the work I started with University of Victoria students 5 years ago with my previous NSERC grant. With access to our NEW EARTH lab to design, test and deploy frontier technologies, to exciting science campaigns from both ground- and spaced-based instruments, and to breakthrough discoveries, I expect our team to significantly contribute to the search of Earth 2.0 and life outside our Solar system.