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Space-based infrared interferometry to study exoplanetary atmospheres

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Abstract

The quest for other habitable worlds and the search for life among them are major goals of modern astronomy. One way to make progress towards these goals is to obtain high-quality spectra of a large number of exoplanets over a broad range of wavelengths. While concepts currently investigated in the United States are focused on visible/NIR wavelengths, where the planets are probed in reflected light, a compelling alternative to characterize planetary atmospheres is the mid-infrared waveband (5–20 μm). Indeed, mid-infrared observations provide key information on the presence of an atmosphere, the surface conditions (e.g., temperature, pressure, habitability), and the atmospheric composition in important species such as H2O, CO2, O3, CH4, and N2O. This information is essential to investigate the potential habitability of exoplanets and to make progress towards the search for life in the Universe. Obtaining high-quality mid-infrared spectra of exoplanets from the ground is however extremely challenging due to the overwhelming brightness and turbulence of the Earth’s atmosphere. In this paper, we present a concept of space-based mid-infrared interferometer that can tackle this observing challenge and discuss the main technological developments required to launch such a sophisticated instrument.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (ERC Grant Agreement n. 337569) and by the French Community of Belgium through an ARC grant for Concerted Research Action. DD and OA acknowledge funding from the FRS-FNRS. Some of research described in this publication was carried out in part at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Part of this work has been carried out within the frame of the National Center for Competence in Research PlanetS supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. SPQ acknowledges the financial support of the SNSF. NCS was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) through national funds and by FEDER through COMPETE2020 in the context of the projects and grants reference UID/FIS/04434/2013 & POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007672, PTDC/FIS-AST/1526/2014 & POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016886, and IF/00169/2012/CP0150/CT0002. SL acknowledges support from ERC Starting Grant n. 639248. SK acknowledges support from an STFC Rutherford Fellowship (ST/J004030/1) and ERC Starting Grant n. 639889.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space Sciences, Technologies, Astrophysics Research (STAR) Institute, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

    D. Defrère, O. Absil, M. Gillon & J. Surdej

  2. Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, Université de Paris-Sud, Orsay, France

    A. Léger

  3. NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    C. Beichman

  4. Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    B. Biller

  5. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Exoplanets, Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory, Greenbelt, MD, USA

    W. C. Danchi & S. Rinehart

  6. Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Koblenz, Germany

    K. Ergenzinger

  7. Departamento de Fisica Teorica, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Canto-blanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    C. Eiroa & E. Villaver

  8. Steward Observatory, Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    S. Ertel

  9. Leiden Observatory, University of Leiden, PO Box 9513, NL-2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    M. Fridlund

  10. Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    A. García Muñoz, M. Godolt & H. Rauer

  11. Astronomy Technology Centre, Edinburgh, UK

    A. Glasse

  12. Institute for Planetary Research, German Aerospace Center, Berlin, Germany

    J. L. Grenfell & H. Rauer

  13. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

    S. Kraus

  14. University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    L. Labadie

  15. LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, 92195, Meudon Cedex, France

    S. Lacour

  16. Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala Space Observatory, 439 92, Onsala, Sweden

    M. Fridlund & R. Liseau

  17. Institut de Planétologie et d’astrophysique de Grenoble, Grenoble, France

    G. Martin

  18. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, USA

    B. Mennesson

  19. Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo, INAF, Palermo, Italy

    G. Micela

  20. innoFSPEC, Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), Potsdam, Germany

    S. Minardi

  21. ETH Zurich, Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Zurich, Switzerland

    S. P. Quanz

  22. Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Universidade do Porto, CAUP, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762, Porto, Portugal

    N. C. Santos

  23. Departamento de Física e Astronomia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal

    N. C. Santos

  24. University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

    F. Selsis

  25. Tsinghua University, Bejing, China

    F. Tian

  26. Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK

    P. J. Wheatley

  27. Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK

    M. Wyatt

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Future of Optical-infrared Interferometry in Europe

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Defrère, D., Léger, A., Absil, O. et al. Space-based infrared interferometry to study exoplanetary atmospheres. Exp Astron 46, 543–560 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-018-9613-2

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