Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-06-18

Debris in extrasolar planetary systems

Objective

This proposal concerns the debris discs of nearby stars; ie, discs of asteroids, comets and dust. Such dust can be imaged, providing clues to the underlying planetary system. Debris images have already predicted planets later confirmed in direct imaging. Most debris lies in cold outer (~100AU) regions of planetary systems, but a growing number of stars have hot dust in regions where terrestrial planets are expected (few AU). This proposal aims learn about the planetary systems of nearby stars through study of their debris discs. Specific focus is on the frontier area of characterisation and modelling of dust within planetary systems, which is important for the design of missions to detect habitable planets, a high priority goal for the next decade. The PI has played a significant role in debris disc studies, and proposes to consolidate an independent research team in Cambridge. The proposal covers 3 studies supported by 3 PDRAs. Specific objectives are: 1) Debris disc observations: Carry out survey for cold debris around unbiased sample of nearest 500 stars with Herschel and SCUBA2. Follow-up bright discs with high resolution imaging using ALMA and JWST to characterise sub-structure from planets and search for dust at multiple radii. Pioneer survey for hot dust using polarisation and interferometry. 2) Debris disc modelling: Develop new model to follow the interplay between collisions, radiation pressure, P-R drag, sublimation, disintegration, and dynamical interactions with planets. Use model to consider nature of small particle halos, resonant ring structures formed by terrestrial planets, and level of cometary dust scattered into inner regions. 3) Debris disc origin: Demonstrate constraints placed on planet formation models through studies of dust from Earth-moon forming impacts, effect of planetesimals on late-stage planetary dynamics, population synthesis explaining planets and debris, constraints on primordial size and stirring of debris.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

ERC-2011-StG_20101014
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant

Host institution

THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
EU contribution
€ 1 497 920,00
Address
TRINITY LANE THE OLD SCHOOLS
CB2 1TN Cambridge
United Kingdom

See on map

Region
East of England East Anglia Cambridgeshire CC
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data

Beneficiaries (1)

My booklet 0 0