Related papers: Nulling interferometry: performance comparison bet…
We present a novel machine learning method that is capable of rapidly and accurately producing dust-continuum model images and spectral energy distributions from training sets created using a detailed radiative transfer code. We create a…
Debris disks are extrasolar analogs to our own Kuiper Belt and they are detected around at least 17% of nearby Sun-like stars. The morphology and dynamics of a disk encode information about its history, as well as that of any exoplanets…
Herein is discussed the performance of spaceborne nulling interferometers searching for extra-solar planets, in terms of their extinction maps projected on-sky. In particular, it is shown that the designs of Spatial Filtering (SF) and…
Extragalactic planetary nebulae (PNe) are detectable through relatively strong nebulous [OIII] emission and act as direct probes into the local stellar population. Because they have an apparently universal invariant magnitude cut-off, PNe…
The characterization of extrasolar earth-like atmospheres for biosignatures remains one of the most compelling and elusive challenges in astronomy. Coronagraphy, nulling interferometry and free-flying occulters have been advanced as…
Ionization-recombination balance in dense interstellar and circumstellar environments is a key factor for a variety of important physical processes, such as chemical reactions, dust charging and coagulation, coupling of the gas with…
Transitional discs are a special type of protoplanetary discs where planet formation is thought to be taking place. These objects feature characteristic inner cavities and/or gaps of a few tens of AUs in the sub-millimitre images of the…
Motivated by the reported dearth of debris discs around M stars, we use survival models to study the occurrence of planetesimal discs around them. These survival models describe a planetesimal disc with a small number of parameters,…
Protoplanetary disks exhibit a vertical gradient in angular momentum, rendering them susceptible to the Vertical Shear Instability (VSI). The most important condition for the onset of this mechanism is a short timescale of thermal…
The study of the planet-debris disk connection can shed light on the formation and evolution of planetary systems, and may help predict the presence of planets around stars with certain disk characteristics. In preliminary analyses of the…
Context: A full understanding of the planet and moon formation process requires observations that probe the circumplanetary environment of accreting giant planets. The mid-infrared ELT imager and spectrograph (METIS) will provide a unique…
The dust measured in debris disks traces the position of planetesimal belts. In our Solar System, we are also able to measure the largest planetesimals directly and can extrapolate down to make an estimate of the dust. The zodiacal dust…
We report long-baseline interferometric measurements of circumstellar dust around massive evolved stars with the MIDI instrument on the Very Large Telescope Interferometer and provide spectrally dispersed visibilities in the 8-13 micron…
We investigate the nature of the innermost regions of seven circumstellar disks around pre-main-sequence stars. Our object sample contains disks apparently at various stages of their evolution. Both single stars and spatially resolved…
X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) in the 0.2-2 keV band is a crucial component in multi-wavelength studies of dust mineralogy, size, and shape -- parameters that are necessary for interpreting astronomical observations and building…
We present an overview of the EXoplanetary Circumstellar Environments and Disk Explorer (EXCEDE), selected by NASA for technology development and maturation. EXCEDE will study the formation, evolution and architectures of exoplanetary…
Context. Protoplanetary disks show large diversity regarding their morphology and dust composition. With mid-infrared interferometry the thermal emission of disks can be spatially resolved, and the distribution and properties of the dust…
We describe a search for infra-red excess emission from dusty circumstellar material around 180,000 stars observed by the Kepler and WISE missions. This study is motivated by i) the potential to find bright warm disks around planet host…
Transitional discs are a class of circumstellar discs around young stars with extensive clearing of dusty material within their inner regions on 10s of au scales. One of the primary candidates for this kind of clearing is the formation of…
We report on the first nulling interferometric observations with the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI), resolving the N' band (9.81 - 12.41 um) emission around the nearby main-sequence star eta Crv (F2V, 1-2 Gyr). The measured…