Revealing the Nature, Diversity, and Formation of Super-Earth Exoplanets

未来五年是行星天体物理学史上一个真正独特的机会。我们第一次拥有了观测技术、理论模型和足够数量的围绕附近恒星运行的已知系外行星，以光谱方式描述了从炎热的巨型行星到地球大小的温带行星等各种行星在其宿主恒星的宜居带中的特征。我的团队目前处于一个独特的位置，可以在这个快速增长的系外行星表征领域实现下一个重大飞跃，因为我最近开发了一种新的理论建模技术来解释系外行星的光谱观测(Benneke 2016)，我获得了几个史无前例的观测项目，使用哈勃太空望远镜(334小时)、斯皮策空间望远镜(217小时)和凯克天文台(11个晚上)来获得必要的数据，以进行这种表征。受益于这一独特的起点，我将在蒙特雷亚尔大学建立一个研究小组，该小组将成为描述系外行星大气特征的世界领先小组之一。我近期工作的亮点将是：1.首次对地球和海王星之间具有行星质量的有趣的超地球系统中的行星进行全面的光谱调查(Pi Benneke，hst go 13665,199小时)，2.第一次对其宿主恒星宜居带中的行星的大气特征(Pi Benneke，hst go 14682,125小时)，3.首次对宜居带系外行星的紫外线凌日观测(Pi Benneke，hst go 14454，10小时)，4.第一次对海王星到土星质量系外行星的大型光谱调查(Pi Deming，hst-go-14260，未在本方案中讨论)。5.首次对近距离、高辐射的巨行星(“热木星”)和宽轨道距离的自发光巨行星进行详细比较(Pi Benneke，11晚，凯克天文台)。将这些大型光谱调查结合在一起，将使加拿大有几篇开创性的博士和硕士论文和许多高影响力的本科生项目。作为大型HST项目的PI，我将把这些极其有价值的HST观测数据(估计HST运营成本为700万美元)中的大部分带到加拿大。然而，为了克服巨大的数据分析任务，我需要在蒙特拉尔大学建立一个研究生团队，类似于我目前在加州理工大学为5名研究生提供咨询的团队。然而，不幸的是，在加拿大，用于HST数据分析的三笔已批准的STSCI赠款中的99.7,000美元中没有一笔是可用的。在此，我为一个由两名博士生和两名硕士生组成的团队申请资金，这一团队与我目前在加州理工大学的团队类似，将使我能够将这些巨大项目的科学回报带到加拿大。

The next five years present a truly unique opportunity in the history of planetary astrophysics. For the first time, we have the observational techniques, the theoretical models, and a sufficient number of known exoplanets orbiting nearby stars to spectroscopically characterize a wide diversity of planetsranging from hot giant planets to temperate Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone of their host stars. My group is currently in a unique position to make the next big leaps in this rapidly growing field of exoplanet characterization because I recently developed a novel theoretical modeling technique to interpret spectroscopic observations of exoplanets (Benneke 2016) and I was awarded several unprecedented observational programs using the Hubble Space Telescope (334 hours), the Spitzer Space Telescope (217 hours), and the Keck observatories (11 nights) to obtain the necessary data for this characterization. Benefitting from this unique starting position, I will establish a research group at Université de Montréal that will be among the worldwide leading groups in the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres. Highlights of my near-term work will be:1. the first comprehensive spectroscopic survey of planets in the intriguing super-Earth regime with planetary masses between Earth and Neptune (PI Benneke, HST GO 13665, 199 hours),2. the first atmospheric characterizations of planets in the habitable zone of their host stars (PI Benneke, HST GO 14682, 125 hours),3. the first ultraviolet transit observation of a habitable-zone exoplanet (PI Benneke, HST GO 14454, 10 hours),4. the first large spectroscopic survey of Neptune to Saturn-mass exoplanets (PI Deming, HST-GO-14260, not discussed in this proposal), and finally,5. the first detailed comparison of close-in, highly-irradiated giant planets (“hot Jupiters”) and self-luminous giant planets at wide orbital separations (PI Benneke, 11 nights, Keck observatory).Together these large spectroscopic surveys will enable several groundbreaking PhD and MSc theses and many high-impact undergraduate student projects in Canada. As the PI of the large HST programs, I will bring most of these extremely valuable HST observations (>$7 million USD in estimated HST operating costs) to Canada. To conquer the tremendous data analysis task, however, I will need to establish a team of graduate students at Université de Montréal similar to the 5 graduate students I am currently advising at CalTech. Unfortunately, however, none of the approved $997,000 USD from the three approved STScI grants for the HST data analysis will be available to me in Canada. Here, I request funds for a team of two doctoral students and two Master's student similar to my current team at Caltech that would enable me bring the scientific return of these tremendous programs to Canada.