Restricted Research - Award List, Note/Discussion Page
Fiscal Year: 2023
2485 The University of Texas at San Antonio (144373)
Principal Investigator: Currie, Thayne
Total Amount of Contract, Award, or Gift (Annual before 2011): $ 46,635
Exceeds $250,000 (Is it flagged?): No
Start and End Dates: 10/1/22 - 9/30/23
Restricted Research: YES
Academic Discipline: SCIENCES
Department, Center, School, or Institute: Cos Physics & Astronomy
Title of Contract, Award, or Gift: Extreme AO Imaging and Integral Field Spectroscopy of Young Planet-Forming Disks
Name of Granting or Contracting Agency/Entity:
National Aeronautic and Space Administration - NASA
CFDA Link: NASA
43.001
Program Title:
none
CFDA Linked: Aerospace Education Services Program
Note:
SAMs 1.1.1; We propose the next major advance in imaging young protoplanetary disks, probing planet formation within them at Solar System scales, using a new, cutting-edge instrument combination, Subaru SCExAO/CHARIS and VAMPIRES Integral Field Spectroscopy and Polarimetry. This program would build upon the highly successful, 5-year Subaru/SEEDS survey of young protoplanetary disks. At Strehl ratios of 70-90%, our Extreme-AO (ExAO) integral field polarimetric survey will yield both total intensity and polarized intensity imagery of the inner region (0.04au - 0.50au; e.g. 5.6 - 70 au at the distance to Taurus, d = 140pc) of suspected planet-forming disks across the JHK bandpass. We will use this unique capability, along with complementary state-of-the-art 3D Radiative Transfer modeling, to a) identify disk-substructure that could be caused by disk-planet interactions at locations that correspond to the most likely birth location of gas giant planets in these systems; b) quantify whether such disk structures are likely due to disk-planet interactions, or likely caused by unrelated phenomena; and c) identify and assess the viability of candidate directly imaged gas giant planets (or forming gas giants) in these systems, and characterize the near-IR spectroscopic properties of these objects.
Discussion: No discussion notes