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Infrared Detection and Characterization of Debris Disks, Exozodiacal Dust, and Exoplanets: The FKSI Mission Concept | | W. C. Danchi
; R. K. Barry
; B. Lopez
; S. Rinehart
; O. Absil
; J.-C. Augereau
; H. Beust
; X. Bonfils
; P. Borde
; Denis Defrere
; Pierre Kern
; P. Lawson
; A. Leger
; J.-L. Monin
; D. Mourard
; M. Ollivier
; R. Petrov
; W. Traub
; S. Unwin
; F. Vakili
; | | Date: |
14 Dec 2009 | | Abstract: | The Fourier-Kelvin Stellar Interferometer (FKSI) is a mission concept for a
nulling interferometer for the near-to-mid-infrared spectral region. FKSI is
conceived as a mid-sized strategic or Probe class mission. FKSI has been
endorsed by the Exoplanet Community Forum 2008 as such a mission and has been
costed to be within the expected budget. The current design of FKSI is a
two-element nulling interferometer. The two telescopes, separated by 12.5 m,
are precisely pointed (by small steering mirrors) on the target star. The two
path lengths are accurately controlled to be the same to within a few
nanometers. A phase shifter/beam combiner (Mach-Zehnder interferometer)
produces an output beam consisting of the nulled sum of the target planet’s
light and the host star’s light. When properly oriented, the starlight is
nulled by a factor of 10^-4, and the planet light is undiminished. Accurate
modeling of the signal is used to subtract the residual starlight, permitting
the detection of planets much fainter than the host star. The current version
of FKSI with 0.5-m apertures and waveband 3-8 microns has the following main
capabilities: (1) detect exozodiacal emission levels to that of our own solar
system (1 Solar System Zodi) around nearby F, G, and K, stars; (2) characterize
spectroscopically the atmospheres of a large number of known non-transiting
planets; (3) survey and characterize nearby stars for planets down to 2 Earth
radii from just inside the habitable zone and inward. An enhanced version of
FKSI with 1-m apertures separated by 20 m and cooled to 40 K, with science
waveband 5-15 microns, allows for the detection and characterization of 2
Earth-radius super-Earths and smaller planets in the habitable zone around
stars within about 30 pc. | | Source: | arXiv, 0912.2672 | | Services: | Forum | Review | PDF | Favorites | |
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