1. Direct imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanets with the ELT/HARMONI high-contrast module
- Author
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M. Houllé, Jean-François Sauvage, Gilles Otten, Elodie Choquet, Mark W. Phillips, Christoph Mordasini, Noah Schwartz, Isabelle Baraffe, Alexis Carlotti, Alexandre Emsenhuber, Faustine Cantalloube, Arthur Vigan, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG), Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble (OSUG ), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry])-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Météo-France -Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry])-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Météo-France, School of Physics and Astronomy [Exeter], University of Exeter, DOTA, ONERA, Université Paris Saclay [Châtillon], ONERA-Université Paris-Saclay, UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC), Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon (CRAL), École normale supérieure - Lyon (ENS Lyon)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Bern, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory [Tucson] (LPL), University of Arizona, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), NASA GODDARD INSTITUTE FOR SPACE STUDIES NEW YORK USA, Partenaires IRSTEA, Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA), Langages HUmanités Médiations Apprentissages Interactions Numérique (LHUMAIN), Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM), DOTA, ONERA [Salon], ONERA, École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENS de Lyon)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Center for Space and Habitability (CSH), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry])-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry])-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), and Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)
- Subjects
planets and satellites: detection ,[PHYS.ASTR.IM]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysic [astro-ph.IM] ,[PHYS.ASTR.EP]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP] ,530 Physics ,Instrumentation ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astrophysics ,7. Clean energy ,law.invention ,Telescope ,Integral field spectrograph ,instrumentation: high angular resolution ,Planet ,law ,Extremely Large Telescope ,infrared: planetary systems ,Adaptive optics ,Spectroscopy ,Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) ,ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS ,Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) ,Physics ,520 Astronomy ,Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Exoplanet ,techniques: imaging spectroscopy ,Space and Planetary Science ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,[PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] ,Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics - Abstract
Combining high-contrast imaging with medium-resolution spectroscopy has been shown to significantly boost the direct detection of exoplanets. HARMONI, one of the first-light instruments to be mounted on ESO's ELT, will be equipped with a single-conjugated adaptive optics system to reach the diffraction limit of the ELT in H and K bands, a high-contrast module dedicated to exoplanet imaging, and a medium-resolution (up to R = 17 000) optical and near-infrared integral field spectrograph. Combined together, these systems will provide unprecedented contrast limits at separations between 50 and 400 mas. In this paper, we estimate the capabilities of the HARMONI high-contrast module for the direct detection of young giant exoplanets. We use an end-to-end model of the instrument to simulate observations based on realistic observing scenarios and conditions. We analyze these data with the so-called "molecule mapping" technique combined to a matched-filter approach, in order to disentangle the companions from the host star and tellurics, and increase the S/N of the planetary signal. We detect planets above 5-sigma at contrasts up to 16 mag and separations down to 75 mas in several spectral configurations of the instrument. We show that molecule mapping allows the detection of companions up to 2.5 mag fainter compared to state-of-the-art high-contrast imaging techniques based on angular differential imaging. We also demonstrate that the performance is not strongly affected by the spectral type of the host star, and that we reach close sensitivities for the best three quartiles of observing conditions at Armazones, which means that HARMONI could be used in near-critical observations during 60 to 70% of telescope time at the ELT. Finally, we simulate planets from population synthesis models to further explore the parameter space that HARMONI and its high-contrast module will soon open., Accepted for publication in A&A (14 pages, 9 figures)
- Published
- 2021
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