Collaborative Research: Turnkey Laser Frequency Comb for the Calibrator for the Habitable Zone Planet Finder

合作研究：用于宜居带行星探测器校准器的交钥匙激光频率梳

基本信息

批准号：
1310875
负责人：
Scott Diddams
金额：
$ 63.86万
依托单位：
University of Colorado at Boulder
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2013
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2013-09-01 至 2018-08-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1310875&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Collaborative Research Turnkey Laser Frequency

项目摘要

The discovery of planets around other stars, in startling numbers and sometimes with surprising physical properties, is one of the more noteworthy achievements of observational astronomy over the last two decades. Most exoplanet discoveries are made by observing with great precision the Doppler shift of the star around which the planet orbits, and seeing the very small recoil velocity as the mass of the planet pulls the star a small amount from its average position. The less massive the planet, the smaller is this stellar motion, and the more difficult are the measurements. So observing planets as small as our earth is a particularly challenging task that can only be done with spectral calibration of extreme precision. This project will build such a calibration system that will enable detection of terrestrial-mass exoplanets.The technology employed is a near-infrared (NIR) laser frequency comb with field-tested technology, capable of improving radial-velocity calibration by a factor of 5 or more. A complete telescope-ready subsystem will be made and then deployed in 2015 on the 10 meter Hobby-Eberly Telescope. An immediate science program of surveying low-mass and low-temperature M stars takes advantage of the carefully stabilized spectrograph's sensitivity to near-infrared light, along with velocity precision better than a meter per second from the new calibrator. This program will help resolve a fundamental but still unanswered question: "are there planets like our own around other stars, and how common are they?"This project is addressing a topic listed as one of the three most important research areas by the Astro 2010 decadal survey in which the astronomical profession prioritizes research directions for the next 10 years. There is certainly wide public interest in the questions to be answered, and an active program of outreach and educational activities will be supported as well.Funding for this project is being provided by NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences through its Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation program.

在其他恒星周围发现的行星数量惊人，有时还具有令人惊讶的物理特性，是过去二十年观测天文学最值得注意的成就之一。大多数系外行星的发现都是通过高精度观察行星绕其轨道运行的恒星的多普勒频移，并观察当行星质量将恒星从其平均位置拉动一小部分时非常小的反冲速度来发现的。行星质量越小，恒星运动就越小，测量就越困难。因此，观测像地球一样小的行星是一项特别具有挑战性的任务，只能通过极其精确的光谱校准来完成。该项目将建立这样一个校准系统，能够探测类地质量的系外行星。所采用的技术是经过现场测试的近红外（NIR）激光频率梳，能够将径向速度校准提高5倍或更多。一个完整的望远镜就绪子系统将被制造出来，然后于 2015 年部署在 10 米霍比-埃伯利望远镜上。一项调查低质量和低温 M 星的直接科学计划利用了精心稳定的摄谱仪对近红外光的敏感性，以及新校准器优于每秒一米的速度精度。该计划将有助于解决一个基本但仍未得到解答的问题：“其他恒星周围是否存在类似我们的行星，它们有多常见？”该项目正在解决被 Astro 2010 列为三个最重要研究领域之一的主题十年期调查，天文学界优先考虑未来 10 年的研究方向。当然，公众对要回答的问题有广泛的兴趣，并且还将支持积极的外展和教育活动计划。该项目的资金由美国国家科学基金会天文科学部通过其先进技术和仪器计划提供。