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This work assesses the potential capability of the next generation of high-precision Radial Velocity (RV) instruments for Earth-twin exoplanet detection. From the perspective of the importance of data sampling, the Terra Hunting Experiment…
High Definition Astrometry (0.1 - 1.0 micro-arcseconds) will open a new window into neighboring planetary systems. For the first time, the realm of temperate terrestrial worlds will be explored. This includes Earth Analogs, thereby allowing…
One of the top remaining science challenges in astronomical optics is the direct imaging and characterization of extrasolar planets and planetary systems. Directly imaging exoplanets from ground-based observatories requires combining…
Transmission spectroscopy has proven to be an effective technique for characterizing exoplanet atmospheres. However, transmission spectroscopy requires planetary transits, which occur for only a small fraction of planetary systems due to…
The detection of planets around other stars by the measurement of the stellar Radial Velocity (RV) variations benefits from improvements of dedicated spectrographs, allowing to achieve a precision of 1 ms$^{-1}$ or better. Spectral…
Extremely large telescopes (ELTs) present an unparalleled opportunity to study the magnetism, atmospheric dynamics, and chemistry of very low mass stars (VLMs), brown dwarfs, and exoplanets. Instruments such as the Giant Magellan Telescope…
Doppler Imaging produces 2D global maps of rotating objects using high-dispersion spectroscopy. When applied to brown dwarfs and extrasolar planets, this technique can constrain global atmospheric dynamics and/or magnetic effects on these…
Several concepts now exist for small, space-based missions to directly characterize exoplanets in reflected light. Here, we develop an instrument noise model suitable for studying the spectral characterization potential of a…
A transiting planet eclipses part of the rotating stellar surface, thereby producing an anomalous Doppler shift of the stellar spectrum. Here I review how this "Rossiter-McLaughlin Effect" can be used to characterize exoplanetary systems.…
Transiting planet discoveries have yielded a plethora of information regarding the internal structure and atmospheres of extra-solar planets. These discoveries have been restricted to the low-periastron distance regime due to the bias…
To date, infrared interferometry at best achieved contrast ratios of a few times $10^{-4}$ on bright targets. GRAVITY, with its dual-field mode, is now capable of high contrast observations, enabling the direct observation of exoplanets. We…
With an emphasis in detecting Earth-like planets set forth by the 2010 Decadal Survey and in searching for planets around M dwarfs set forth by the 2008 Exoplanet Task Force, radial velocity surveys with infrared echelle spectrometers will…
The remarkable optical properties of the solar gravitational lens (SGL) include major brightness amplification (~1e11 at wavelength of 1 um) and extreme angular resolution (~1e-10 arcsec) in a narrow field of view. A mission to the SGL…
The ESPRI project relies on the astrometric capabilities offered by the PRIMA facility of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer for the discovery and study of planetary systems. Our survey consists of obtaining high-precision astrometry…
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…
We present end-to-end simulations of SCALES, the third generation thermal-infrared diffraction limited imager and low/med-resolution integral field spectrograph (IFS) being designed for Keck. The 2-5 micron sensitivity of SCALES enables…
[Abridged] The Study Analysis Group 8 of the NASA Exoplanet Analysis Group was convened to assess the current capabilities and the future potential of the precise radial velocity (PRV) method to advance the NASA goal to "search for…
The detection of exoplanets with the radial velocity method consists in detecting variations of the stellar velocity caused by an unseen sub-stellar companion. Instrumental errors, irregular time sampling, and different noise sources…
ESPRESSO is an extremely stable high-resolution spectrograph which is currently being developed for the ESO VLT. With its groundbreaking characteristics it is aimed to be a "science machine", i.e. a fully-integrated instrument to directly…
This work is part of an ongoing project which aims to detect terrestrial planets in our neighbouring star system $\alpha$ Centauri using the Doppler method. Owing to the small angular separation between the two components of the $\alpha$…