Related papers: Inverting Phase Functions to Map Exoplanets
Here we present the first open-source radiative transfer model for computing the reflected light of exoplanets at any phase geometry, called PICASO: Planetary Intensity Code for Atmospheric Scattering Observations. This code, written in…
Seeing oceans, continents, quasi-static weather, and other surface features on exoplanets may allow us to detect and characterize life outside the solar system. The Proxima b planet resides within the stellar habitable zone allowing for…
The detection and characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets is one of the chief goals of astrophysics for the coming decades. Imaging in reflected light is well suited for characterizing Earth-like planets, as much can be learned…
With the continuous improvement in the precision of exoplanet observations, it has become feasible to probe for subtle effects that can enable a more comprehensive characterization of exoplanets. A notable example is the tidal deformation…
Gravitationally lensed quasars offer a unique opportunity to study cosmological and extragalactic phenomena, using reliable light curves of the lensed images. This requires accurate deblending of the quasar images, which is not trivial due…
Photometric variation of a directly imaged planet contains information on both the geography and spectra of the planetary surface. We propose a novel technique that disentangles the spatial and spectral information from the multi-band…
The direct observation of cold and temperate planets within 1 to 10 AU would be extremely valuable for uncovering their atmospheric compositions but remains a formidable challenge with current astronomical methods. Ground-based optical…
One of the main endeavors of the field of exoplanetary sciences is the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres on a population level. The current method of choice to accomplish this task is transmission spectroscopy, where the apparent…
Intensity mapping is a promising technique for surveying the large scale structure of our Universe from $z=0$ to $z \sim 150$, using the brightness temperature field of spectral lines to directly observe previously unexplored portions of…
We carried out numerical experiments on the evaluation of the possibilities of obtaining the information about brightness distributions for the components of eclipsing variables from the data of high-precision photometry expected for…
Since their introduction in the shape analysis community, functional maps have met with considerable success due to their ability to compactly represent dense correspondences between deformable shapes, with applications ranging from shape…
Light curves show the flux variation from the target star and its orbiting planets as a function of time. In addition to the transit features created by the planets, the flux also includes the reflected light component of each planet, which…
We consider the time-frequency analysis of a scattered light curve of a directly imaged exoplanet. We show that the geometric effect due to planetary obliquity and orbital inclination induce the frequency modulation of the apparent diurnal…
The obliquity of a terrestrial planet is an important clue about its formation and critical to its climate. Previous studies using simulated photometry of Earth show that continuous observations over most of a planet's orbit can be inverted…
We present a theoretical analysis of the optical light curves (LCs) for short-period high-mass transiting extrasolar planet systems. Our method considers the primary transit, the secondary eclipse, and the overall phase shape of the LC…
The distribution of instellation at the top of a planet's atmosphere or surface is usually calculated using the inverse-square law of radiation. This is based on the assumption that the host star is far enough to be considered a point-sized…
We calculate self-consistent extrasolar giant planet (EGP) phase functions and light curves for orbital distances ranging from 0.2 AU to 15 AU. We explore the dependence on wavelength, cloud condensation, and Keplerian orbital elements. We…
At optical wavelengths, an exoplanet's signature is essentially reflected light from the host star - several orders of magnitude fainter. Since it is superimposed on the star spectrum its detection has been a difficult observational…
The availability of a robust and efficient routine for calculating light curves of a finite source magnified due to bending its light by the gravitational field of an intervening binary lens is essential for determining the characteristics…
The analysis of exoplanetary atmospheres often relies upon the observation of transit or eclipse events. While very powerful, these snapshots provide mainly 1-dimensional information on the planet structure and do not easily allow precise…