凌星系外行星研究及JWST早期释放科学计划的社区目标
摘要
詹姆斯·韦伯空间望远镜(JWST)将因其连续、长时段观测能力,以及相较于现有天基设施更大的集光面积、光谱覆盖和光谱分辨率,而给凌星系外行星大气科学带来革命性变化。然而,目前尚不清楚JWST的确切性能表现,以及其众多仪器和观测模式中哪些最适合凌星系外行星研究。在本文中,我们描述了一项预备性的JWST早期释放科学(ERS)计划,该计划侧重于测试特定观测模式,以快速为学界提供规划未来更高效、更成功的凌星系外行星表征计划所需的数据和经验。我们提出了一种多管齐下的方法,其中计划的其中一个方面侧重于用所有推荐的观测模式观测单个目标的凌星事件,以识别并理解潜在的系统误差,比较重叠和相邻波长区域的透射光谱,确认通过量,并确定整体性能。在为达成这些目标搜寻合适的凌星系外行星时,我们确定了12个符合既定标准的天体(被称为“社区目标”)。目前,最有利的目标是WASP-62b,因其预测信号幅度大、宿主恒星相对明亮,且位于JWST的连续观测区。由于大多数社区目标的大气尚未被充分表征,我们建议启动预备观测计划以确定其大气中是否存在遮蔽性云/雾。需要可测量的光谱特征来确立系外行星表征的最佳分辨率和波长区域。我们提出的ERS计划中的其他举措包括测试仪器亮度极限以及执行相曲线观测。(删节)
引用
@article{arxiv.1602.08389,
title = {Transiting Exoplanet Studies and Community Targets for JWST's Early Release Science Program},
author = {Kevin B. Stevenson and Nikole K. Lewis and Jacob L. Bean and Charles Beichman and Jonathan Fraine and Brian M. Kilpatrick and J. E. Krick and Joshua D. Lothringer and Avi M. Mandell and Jeff A. Valenti and Eric Agol and Daniel Angerhausen and Joanna K. Barstow and Stephan M. Birkmann and Adam Burrows and David Charbonneau and Nicolas B. Cowan and Nicolas Crouzet and Patricio E. Cubillos and S. M. Curry and Paul A. Dalba and Julien de Wit and Drake Deming and Jean-Michel Desert and Rene Doyon and Diana Dragomir and David Ehrenreich and Jonathan J. Fortney and Antonio Garcia Munoz and Neale P. Gibson and John E. Gizis and Thomas P. Greene and Joseph Harrington and Kevin Heng and Tiffany Kataria and Eliza M. -R. Kempton and Heather Knutson and Laura Kreidberg and David Lafreniere and Pierre-Olivier Lagage and Michael R. Line and Mercedes Lopez-Morales and Nikku Madhusudhan and Caroline V. Morley and Marco Rocchetto and Everett Schlawin and Evgenya L. Shkolnik and Avi Shporer and David K. Sing and Kamen O. Todorov and Gregory S. Tucker and Hannah R. Wakeford},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1602.08389},
year = {2016}
}
备注
This is a white paper that originated from an open discussion at the Enabling Transiting Exoplanet Science with JWST workshop held November 16 - 18, 2015 at STScI (http://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science/exoplanets). Accepted for publication in PASP