Related papers: A New Method for Calibration of Gain Variation in …
We propose a new concept for spectral characterization of transiting exoplanets with future space-based telescopes. This concept, called as densified pupil spectroscopy, allows us to perform high, stable spectrophotometry against telescope…
The direct measurement of the Universe's expansion history and the search for terrestrial planets in habitable zones around solar-type stars require extremely high-precision radial velocity measures over a decade. This study proposes an…
We introduce a new method to determine the relative contributions of different types of stars to the integrated light of nearby early-type galaxies. As is well known, the surface brightness of these galaxies shows pixel-to-pixel…
Spectrophotometric stability, which is crucial in the spectral characterization of transiting exoplanets, is affected by photometric variations arising from field-stop loss in space telescopes with pointing jitter or primary mirror…
Traditionally, ground-based spectrophotometric observations probing transiting exoplanet atmospheres have employed a linear map between comparison and target star light curves (e.g. via differential spectrophotometry) to correct for…
Transmission spectra are differential measurements that utilize stellar illumination to probe transiting exoplanet atmospheres. Any spectral difference between the illuminating light source and the disk-integrated stellar spectrum due to…
Differential spectroscopy during exoplanet transits permits to reconstruct spectra of small stellar surface portions that successively become hidden behind the planet. The center-to-limb behavior of stellar line shapes, asymmetries and…
We present a new method for differentiating between planetary transits and eclipsing binaries based on the presence of the ellipsoidal light variations. These variations can be used to detect stellar secondaries with masses ~0.2 M_sun…
The high planetary multiplicity revealed by Kepler implies that Transit Time Variations (TTVs) are intrinsically common. The usual procedure for detecting these TTVs is biased to long-period, deep transit planets whereas most transiting…
We have developed a new method to improve the transit detection of Earth-sized planets in front of solar-like stars by fitting stellar microvariability by means of a spot model. A large Monte Carlo numerical experiment has been designed to…
Optical imperfections, misalignments, aberrations, and even dust can significantly limit sensitivity in high-contrast imaging systems such as coronagraphs. An upstream deformable mirror (DM) in the pupil can be used to correct or compensate…
Pixel detectors typically display pixel-to-pixel gain variation of a few percent which result in reduced spectroscopic performance. We have developed a calibration method which relies on cross-correlating histograms of many pixel pairs and…
In the coming decades, research in extrasolar planets aims to advance two goals: 1) detecting and characterizing low-mass planets increasingly similar to the Earth, and 2) improving our understanding of planet formation. We present a new…
Digital co-addition of astronomical images is a common technique for increasing signal-to-noise and image depth. A modification of this simple technique has been applied to the detection of minor bodies in the Solar System: first stationary…
Quasi-static speckles are a current limitation to faint companion imaging of bright stars. Here we show through simulation and theory that an adaptive pupil mask can be used to reduce these speckles and increase the visibility of faint…
As a planet transits the face of a star, it accelerates along the line-of-sight. The changing delay in the propagation of photons produces an apparent deceleration of the planet across the sky throughout the transit. This persistent…
Transit spectroscopy is the most promising path toward characterizing nearby terrestrial planets at mid-infrared wavelengths in the next 20 years. The Spitzer Space telescope has achieved moderately good mid-infrared photometric precision…
One of the great quests of astronomy is to obtain the spectrum of a terrestrial planet orbiting within the habitable zone of its star, and the dominant challenge in doing so is to isolate the light of the planet from that of the star.…
The detrending algorithms which are widely used to reduce the impact of stellar variability on space-based transit surveys are ill-suited for estimating the parameters of confirmed planets, as they unavoidably alter the transit signal. We…
Optical stellar interferometers have demonstrated milli-arcsecond resolution with few apertures spaced hundreds of meters apart. To obtain rich direct images, many apertures will be needed, for a better sampling of the incoming wavefront.…