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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will enable the search for and characterization of terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres in the habitable zone via transmission spectroscopy. However, relatively little work has been done to use solar…
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.…
Stringent observational constraints on the sub-galactic matter power spectrum would allow one to distinguish between the concordance $\Lambda$CDM and the various alternative dark-matter models that predict significantly different properties…
This Final Report (FR) presents the results of the Enhanced direct imaging exoplanet detection with astrometry mass determination project, which was executed in support of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program and the ROSES Technology…
Stellar activity causes difficulties in the characterization of transiting exoplanets. Studies have been performed to quantify its impact on infrared interferometry, but not in the visible domain, which however allows reaching better…
One proposed method for finding terrestrial planets around nearby stars is to use two spacecraft--a telescope and a specially shaped occulter that is specifically designed to prevent all but a tiny fraction of the starlight from diffracting…
The search for exoplanets is an active field in astronomy, with direct imaging as one of the most challenging methods due to faint exoplanet signals buried within stronger residual starlight. Successful detection requires advanced image…
Microlensing offers a unique opportunity to probe exoplanets that are temperate and beyond the snow line, as small as Jovian satellites, at extragalactic distance, and even free floating exoplanets, regimes where the sensitivity of other…
I present the results of a new approach to the intensity and photon density spectrum of the intergalactic background light as a function of redshift using observational data obtained in many different wavelength bands from local to deep…
Observations at mas-resolution scales and high dynamic range hold a central place in achieving, for instance, the spectroscopic characterization of exo-Earths or the detailed mapping of their protoplanetary disc birthplace. Ground or…
Small-angle coronagraphy is technically and scientifically appealing because it enables the use of smaller telescopes, allows covering wider wavelength ranges, and potentially increases the yield and completeness of circumstellar…
Constraining the strength of gas turbulence in protoplanetary discs is an open problem that has relevant implications for the physics of gas accretion and planet formation. In this work, we gauge the amount of turbulence in 6 of the discs…
In support of the National Acadamies' Exoplanet Science Strategy, this whitepaper outlines key technology challenges for studying the diversity of worlds in the Galaxy and in searching for habitable planets. Observations of habitable…
The achievable level of precision on photospheric abundances of stars is a major limiting factor on investigations of exoplanet host star characteristics, the chemical histories of star clusters, and the evolution of the Milky Way and other…
Most telescope designs have a circular-shape aperture. We demonstrate that telescopes with an elongated pupil have better contrast, at lower separations, between a bright central star and a faint companion. We simulate images for an…
The TESS follow-up of a large number of known transiting exoplanets provide unique opportunity to study their physical properties more precisely. Being a space-based telescope, the TESS observations are devoid of any noise component…
A method is developed for fitting theoretically predicted astronomical spectra to an observed spectrum. Using a hierarchical Bayesian principle, the method takes both systematic and statistical measurement errors into account, which has not…
We report new methods for evaluating realistic observing programs that search stars for planets by direct imaging, where observations are selected from an optimized star list, and where stars can be observed multiple times. We show how…
The Twinkle space telescope has been designed for the characterisation of exoplanets and Solar System objects. Operating in a low Earth, Sun-synchronous orbit, Twinkle is equipped with a 45 cm telescope and visible (0.4 - 1um) and infrared…
We present cosmological constraints from the Dark Energy Camera All Data Everywhere (DECADE) cosmic shear analysis. This work uses shape measurements for 107 million galaxies measured through Dark Energy Camera (DECam) imaging of $5,\!412$…