Project description
Understanding the magnetism and magnetospheres of exoplanets
The discovery of planet 51 Peg B in 1995 sparked a surge of interest in exoplanets, further fuelled by the recent resurgence in space research and exploration. This has led to significant growth in the field, with an increasing number of exoplanets identified. However, critical gaps remain in our understanding, particularly regarding their magnetism and magnetospheres. The ERC-funded ExoMagnets project aims to address this by investigating exoplanets’ magnetic interactions with their environments, the energy involved, and detectable tracers. By doing so, the project will develop the theoretical tools needed to characterise exoplanetary magnetism.
Objective
The research in exoplanetary sciences has skyrocketed since the first discovery of planet 51 Peg b by Mayor and Queloz (1995). More than 5200 exoplanets have been discovered since and have revolutionized our understanding of how star-planet systems are formed and evolve. More and more exoplanets keep being discovered today, and their characteristics and that of their host star are being precisely determined using space-based and ground-based multi-wavelengths observations.
Nevertheless, we are still blind to a fundamental aspect of exoplanets: what kind of magnetism and magnetosphere do they possess? On Earth, we know the magnetic field shields the atmosphere from the space environment and has been essential to maintaining life as we know it. With the advent of the SKA Observatory, we expect to detect magnetospheric radio signals from hundreds of exoplanets. These magnetospheres also lead to star-planet magnetic interactions for about a third of the known exoplanets, which leave observable traces on the activity tracers of the host star. However, such detections are not enough by themselves to quantify the magnetic properties of exoplanets due to an incomplete theoretical understanding of magnetic interactions.
In ExoMagnets we will therefore address the following science questions: how planets interact magnetically with their environments? How much energy can be involved, and what observational tracers can be detected? What type of magnetism can be sustained by an Earth in the habitable zone of a low-mass star? We will address these questions by filling out the present theoretical gaps about the magnetic coupling between an exoplanet and its local environment. We will quantify for the first time its energetics, its observable multi-wavelength spectrum, and leverage them to constrain the magnetism of exoplanets on short-period orbit. These approaches will be combined to provide the theoretical tools to characterize the magnetism of a large sample of exoplanets.
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: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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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.
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.
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.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-COG
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75015 Paris
France
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