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Phosphine could be a key molecule in the understanding of exotic chemistry happening in (exo)planetary atmospheres. While it has been detected in the Solar System's giant planets, it has not been observed in exoplanets yet. In the exoplanetary context however it has been theorized as a potential biosignature molecule. The goal of our study is to identify which illustrative science cases for PH3 chemistry are observable with a space-based mid-infrared nulling interferometric observatory like the LIFE (Large Interferometer For Exoplanets) concept. We identified a representative set of scenarios for PH3 detections in exoplanetary atmospheres varying over the whole dynamic range of the LIFE mission. We used chemical kinetics and radiative transfer calculations to produce forward models of these informative, prototypical observational cases for LIFEsim, our observation simulator software for LIFE. In a detailed, yet first order approximation it takes a mission like LIFE: (i) about 1h to find phosphine in a warm giant around a G star at 10 pc, (ii) about 10 h in H2 or CO2 dominated temperate super-Earths around M star hosts at 5 pc, (iii) and even in 100h it seems very unlikely that phosphine would be detectable in a Venus-Twin with extreme PH3 concentrations at 5 pc. Phosphine in concentrations previously discussed in the literature is detectable in 2 out of the 3 cases and about an order of magnitude faster than comparable cases with JWST. We show that there is a significant number of objects accessible for these classes of observations. These results will be used to prioritize the parameter range for the next steps with more detailed retrieval simulations. They will also inform timely questions in the early design phase of a mission like LIFE and guide the community by providing easy-to-scale first estimates for a large part of detection space of such a mission., Comment: In press. Accepted for publication in Astrobiology on 02 November 2022. 26 pages, 5 figures and 8 tables

One of the long-term goals of exoplanet science is the atmospheric characterization of dozens of small exoplanets in order to understand their diversity and search for habitable worlds and potential biosignatures. Achieving this goal requires a space mission of sufficient scale. We seek to quantify the exoplanet detection performance of a space-based mid-infrared nulling interferometer that measures the thermal emission of exoplanets. For this, we have developed an instrument simulator that considers all major astrophysical noise sources and coupled it with Monte Carlo simulations of a synthetic exoplanet population around main-sequence stars within 20 pc. This allows us to quantify the number (and types) of exoplanets that our mission concept could detect over a certain time period. Two different scenarios to distribute the observing time among the stellar targets are discussed and different apertures sizes and wavelength ranges are considered. Within a 2.5-year initial search phase, an interferometer consisting of four 2 m apertures with a total instrument throughput of 5% covering a wavelength range between 4 and 18.5 $\mu$m could detect up to ~550 exoplanets with radii between 0.5 and 6 R$_\oplus$ with an integrated SNR$\ge$7. At least ~160 of the detected exoplanets have radii $\le$1.5 R$_\oplus$. Depending on the observing scenario, ~25-45 rocky exoplanets (objects with radii between 0.5 and 1.5 $_{\oplus}$) orbiting within the empirical habitable zone (eHZ) of their host stars are among the detections. With an aperture size of 3.5 m, the total number of detections can increase to up to ~770, including ~60-80 rocky, eHZ planets. With 1 m aperture size, the maximum detection yield is ~315 exoplanets, including $\le$20 rocky, eHZ planets. In terms of predicted detection yield, such a mission can compete with large single-aperture reflected light missions. (abridged), Comment: Accepted for publication by A&A - some typos corrected and affiliations updated; 14 pages main text (incl. 14 figures); first paper in the LIFE paper series; papers II (arXiv:2203.00471) and III (arXiv:2112.02054) are also available

We present a line-by-line differential analysis of a sample of 16 planet hosting stars and 68 comparison stars using high resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio spectra gathered using Keck. We obtained accurate stellar parameters and high-precision relative chemical abundances with average uncertainties in \teff, \logg, [Fe/H] and [X/H] of 15 K, 0.034 [cgs], 0.012 dex and 0.025 dex, respectively. For each planet host, we identify a set of comparison stars and examine the abundance differences (corrected for Galactic chemical evolution effect) as a function of the dust condensation temperature, \tcond, of the individual elements. While we confirm that the Sun exhibits a negative trend between abundance and \tcond, we also confirm that the remaining planet hosts exhibit a variety of abundance $-$ \tcond\ trends with no clear dependence upon age, metallicity or \teff. The diversity in the chemical compositions of planet hosting stars relative to their comparison stars could reflect the range of possible planet-induced effects present in these planet hosts, from the sequestration of rocky material (refractory poor), to the possible ingestion of planets (refractory rich). Other possible explanations include differences in the timescale, efficiency and degree of planet formation or inhomogeneous chemical evolution. Although we do not find an unambiguous chemical signature of planet formation among our sample, the high-precision chemical abundances of the host stars are essential for constraining the composition and structure of their exoplanets., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Atmospheric optical turbulence seriously limits the performance of high angular resolution instruments. An 8-night campaign of measurements was carried out at the LAMOST site in 2011, to characterize the optical turbulence. Two instruments were set up during the campaign: a Differential Image Motion Monitor (DIMM) used to measure the total atmospheric seeing, and a Single Star Scidar (SSS) to measure the vertical profiles of the turbulence C_n^2(h) and the horizontal wind velocity V(h). The optical turbulence parameters are also calculated with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with the Trinquet-Vernin model, which describes optical effects of atmospheric turbulence by using the local meteorological parameters. This paper presents assessment of the optical parameters involved in high angular resolution astronomy. Its includes seeing, isoplanatic angle, coherence time, coherence etendue, vertical profiles of optical turbulence intensity _n^2(h)$ and horizontal wind speed V(h). The median seeing is respectively 1.01 arcsec, 1.17 arcsec and 1.07arcsec as measured with the DIMM, the SSS and predicted with WRF model. The history of seeing measurements at the LAMOST site are reviewed, and the turbulence measurements in this campaign are compared with other astronomical observatories in the world., Comment: 10pages