Related papers: Experimental Design for the Gemini Planet Imager

Direct imaging and spectroscopy is the likely means by which we will someday identify, confirm, and characterize an Earth-like planet around a nearby Sun-like star. This Chapter summarizes the current state of knowledge regarding…

The first directly imaged exoplanets indicated that wide-orbit giant planets could be more common around A-type stars. However, the relatively small number of nearby A-stars has limited the precision of exoplanet demographics studies to…

A primary goal of exoplanet science is to measure the atmospheric composition of gas giants in order to infer their formation and migration histories. Common diagnostics for planet formation are the atmospheric metallicity ([M/H]) and the…

The direct imaging of rocky exoplanets is one of the major science goals for upcoming large telescopes. The contrast requirement for imaging such planets is challenging. However, the mid-IR (InfraRed) regime provides the optimum contrast to…

The Planet Formation Imager (PFI) initiative aims at developing the next generation large scale facility for imaging astronomical optical interferometry operating in the mid-infrared. Here we report on the progress of the Planet Formation…

We present Gemini near-infrared adaptive optics imaging and spectroscopy of a planetary mass candidate companion to 1RXS J160929.1-210524, a roughly solar-mass member of the 5 Myr-old Upper Scorpius association. The object, separated by…

This paper is a response to a call for white papers solicited by Gemini Observatory and its Science and Technology Advisory Committee, to help define the science case and requirements for a new Gemini instrument, envisaged to consist of a…

We quantify the scientific potential for exoplanet imaging with the Mid-infrared E-ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) foreseen as one of the instruments of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). We focus on two main science cases:…

During the first-light run of the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) we obtained K-band spectra of exoplanets HR 8799 c and d. Analysis of the spectra indicates that planet d may be warmer than planet c. Comparisons to recent patchy cloud models…

The next generation of solar telescopes will enable us to resolve the fundamental scales of the solar atmosphere, i.e., the pressure scale height and the photon mean free path. High-resolution observations of small-scale structures with…

The Gemini Deep Deep Survey (GDDS) is an ultra-deep (K<20.6 mag, I<24.5 mag) redshift survey targeting galaxies in the "redshift desert" between 1<z<2. The primary goal of the survey is to constrain the space density at high redshift of…

The Gemini Multi-conjugate adaptive optics System (GeMS) is a facility instrument for the Gemini-South telescope. It delivers uniform, near-diffraction-limited image quality at near-infrared wavelengths over a 2 arcminute field of view.…

Context. High-contrast imaging is currently the only available technique for the study of the thermodynamical and compositional properties of exoplanets in long-period orbits. The SPICES project is a coronagraphic space telescope dedicated…

Orbital monitoring of exoplanetary and stellar systems is fundamental for analysing their architecture, dynamical stability and evolution, and mechanisms of formation. Current high-contrast extreme-adaptive optics imagers like SPHERE, GPI,…

Theories of planet formation predict the birth of giant planets in the inner, dense, and gas-rich regions of the circumstellar disks around young stars. These are the regions from which strong CO emission is expected. Observations have so…

Due to its proximity, youth, and solar-like characteristics with a spectral type of K2V, Eps Eri is one of the most extensively studied systems in an extrasolar planet context. Based on radial velocity, astrometry, and studies of the…

Observations of extrasolar planets using Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS), if coupled with an extreme Adaptive Optics system and analyzed with a Simultaneous Differential Imaging technique (SDI), are a powerful tool to detect and…

Several tools have been developed in the past few years for the statistical analysis of the exoplanet search surveys, mostly using a combination of Monte-Carlo simulations or a Bayesian approach.Here we present the Quick-MESS, a grid-based,…

Among the most fascinating and hotly-debated areas in contemporary astrophysics are the means by which planetary systems are assembled from the large rotating disks of gas and dust which attend a stellar birth. Although important work has…

We use detailed simulations of the Gaia observations of synthetic planetary systems and develop and utilize independent software codes in double-blind mode to analyze the data, including statistical tools for planet detection and different…