Exoplanet Discovery: Life. In the Fast Time Domain

我试图创造一个全面的天文学背景，来解释是什么让我们的太阳系宜居。我通过寻找系外行星，研究棕矮星中质量更大的同类行星的大气层，并将其他行星系统的结构与我们自己的行星系统的结构进行比较来做到这一点。我试图回答现代天体物理学中一些最紧迫的问题：我们如何探测太阳系外生命？银河系中行星系统的多样性是什么？我们自己的太阳系是如何融入其中的？ 我从几个方向，通过创新和先进的设备来解决这些问题。 1)我监督了NASA斯皮策太空望远镜和NASA凌日系外行星调查卫星上两个获得批准的观测项目，以发现第一批类似地球的宜居行星，然后可以仔细检查这些行星的大气生物特征气体。在寻找这类系外行星的过程中，创新的转折是将重点放在赤道上看到的低质量宿主恒星或棕矮星上。行星系统倾向于位于其宿主恒星的赤道平面附近，以及适宜居住的类地行星围绕低质量恒星形成的有利对比，使此类系统成为未来寻找生命的最佳选择：即将到来的詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜(2021+)。正在进行的工作将进一步说明使用专用小空间望远镜研究这类系外行星的可能性。 2)通过与国际团队合作，在最大的地面望远镜上使用先进的高对比度成像仪器，不久将在詹姆斯·韦伯空间望远镜上，我将继续调查尘土飞扬的星际“碎片”盘的多样性：系外行星系统的路标。来自这些项目的观测将了解系外行星系统的演化状态和结构。 3)我正在着手研究太阳系的外围，使用一种新的恒星掩星技术的快速时间域实现。这将首次揭示太阳系柯伊伯带中预计会有大量的千米大小的彗星。与其他行星系统的碎片盘类似，柯伊伯带上了我们太阳系动力学历史的印记。 发现奖将使我能够支持西部大学的一个多学科研究团队，利用设在西部的行星和空间探索中心(CPSX)的学生和博士后研究员进行培训。CPSX的环境非常适合拟议的研究，在行星科学、宇宙化学和天体生物学等相关领域拥有丰富的资源和著名的专业知识。我的实习生将参与我中的几个国际合作，并将与来自行业和政府研究部门的合作伙伴就科学项目进行互动。

I seek to create a comprehensive astronomical context for what makes our solar system habitable. I do so by searching for exoplanets, studying the atmospheres of brown dwarfs planets' more massive kin and by comparing the architectures of other planetary systems to that of our own. I seek to answer some of the most pressing questions in modern astrophysics: How can we detect extrasolar life? What is the diversity of planetary systems in the Milky Way galaxy? How does our own solar system fit in? I approach these questions from several directions, through innovation and advanced equipment. 1) I oversee two approved observing programs on NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and on NASA's Transit Exoplanet Survey Satellite to discover the first Earth-like habitable planets that could then be scrutinized for atmospheric biosignature gases. The innovative twist in seeking such exoplanets is to focus on low-mass host stars or brown dwarfs that are seen equator-on. The propensity of planetary systems to lie near the equatorial planes of their host stars, and the favourable contrast of habitable Earth-like planets around low-mass stars, makes such systems optimal for a future search for life: with the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (2021+). Ongoing work will further inform on the possibility of studying such exoplanets with dedicated small space telescopes. 2) Through collaborations with international teams using advanced high-contrast imaging instruments on the largest ground-based telescopes, and soon on the James Webb Space Telescope, I will continue to survey the diversity of dusty circumstellar "debris" disks: the signposts of exoplanetary systems. The observations from these programs will inform on the evolutionary states and architectures of exoplanetary systems. 3) I am embarking on a study of the solar system outskirts, using a novel fast-time domain implementation of the stellar occultation technique. This will for the first time reveal the expected vast population of kilometre-sized comets in the solar system Kuiper Belt. Analogous to the debris disks of other planetary systems, the Kuiper Belt carries an imprint of the dynamical history of our solar system. The Discovery award will allow me to support a multi-disciplinary research team at Western University, drawing on students and postdoctoral fellows in training at the Western-based Centre for Planetary and Space Exploration (CPSX). The environment at the CPSX is exceptionally well-suited for the proposed research, with substantial resources and renowned expertise in the related fields of planetary science, cosmochemistry, and astrobiology. My trainees will be involved in several of me international collaborations, and will interact on science projects with partners from both industry and the government research sector.