The PLATO Science Calibration and Validation Plan: Targets for the First Long-pointing Field
Abstract
In order to meet the science goals of the PLATO space mission, an extensive science calibration and validation plan has been designed. This paper describes this plan, as well as the methodology adopted to select the science calibration and validation stars that have entered its input catalogue. This is the so-called {\tt scvPIC}, which is part of the general PLATO Input Catalogue (PIC) for the first selected long pointing field in the Southern Hemisphere known as LOPS2. While many of PLATO's science requirements needed dedicated stars as calibrators as discussed here, its most stringent requirement is the delivery of the age of the host stars of exoplanetary systems with an accuracy better than 10\% for a G0V star of {\it V} = 10 mag, i.e. a nearby Sun-like star. This is presently not within reach for large populations of dwarfs and subgiants in the Milky Way as it requires the models of their stellar interiors to be improved. We discuss how this ambitious age requirement led to the selection of tens of thousands of red giants, and of thousands of main-sequence early F-type gravity-mode pulsators in order to deduce their internal rotation profile across stellar evolution. This asteroseismic observable will then be imported as key information into improved models of dwarfs and subgiants in the Milky Way as optimal modelling tools for ever better age-dating of the exoplanet hosts as the PLATO mission moves along. Additional calibrators and validators included in the {\tt scvPIC} are a few thousands of binaries, a few hundreds of legacy and benchmark stars, a few hundred photometrically stable stars, and six transiting brown dwarfs.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2604.04042,
title = {The PLATO Science Calibration and Validation Plan: Targets for the First Long-pointing Field},
author = {Konstanze Zwintz and Conny Aerts and Andrew Tkachenko and Juan Cabrera and Orlagh Creevey and Rene Heller and Nicholas Jannsen and Chen Jiang and Oleg Kochukhov and Antonino Francesco Lanza and Pierre F. L. Maxted and Sergio Messina and Andrea Miglio and Thierry Morel and Benoiıt Mosser and Rhita Ouazzani and John Southworth and Matthias Ammler van-Eiff and Jeroen Audenaert and Paul G. Beck and Kevin Belkacem and Aaron Birch and Diego Bossini and Angela Bragaglia and Lorenzo Briganti and David Brown and Anko Börner and Cristina Chiappini and Cilia Damiani and Patrick Gaulme and Pablo Heise Huijse and Ulrike Heiter and Krysztof G. Helminiak and Mykyta Kliapets and Mikkel N. Lund and Paola Marrese and Thibault Merle and Nicola Miller and Josefina Montalban and Dinil Bose Palakkatharappil and Carsten Paproth and Isabel Rebollido Vazquez and Nena Scheller and Sophia Sulis and Amaury H. M. J. Triaud and Marica Valentini and Mathieu Vrard and Magali Deleuil and Laurent Gizon and Ana M. Heras and J. Miguel Mas-Hesse and Hugh Osborn and Isabella Pagano and Giampaolo Piotto and Don Pollacco and Roberto Raggazoni and Gavin Ramsay and Heike Rauer and Stephane Udry},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.04042},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
Manuscript of 67 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables; submitted to Experimental Astronomy