Self-Calibrated Interferometry for Exoplanet Spectroscopy

Informations projet

SCIFY

N° de convention de subvention: 866070

DOI

10.3030/866070

Date de signature de la CE 20 Mars 2020

Date de début 1 Octobre 2020

Date de fin 31 Mars 2027

Financé au titre de

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Coût total

€ 2 430 202,00

Contribution de l’UE

€ 2 430 202,00

Coordonné par

KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - SCIFY (Self-Calibrated Interferometry for Exoplanet Spectroscopy)

Période du rapport: 2023-10-01 au 2025-03-31

Résumé du contexte et des objectifs généraux du projet

Current exoplanet research faces many challenges in understanding the nature and formation of planetary systems, including the Solar system. To address these challenges, the development of observing techniques with better sensitivity and angular resolution is required. In that regard, the SCIFY project aims at (i) pushing the sensitivity/performance of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), (ii) building a new high-contrast interferometric instrument for the VLTI, and (iii) performing the scientific exploitation of the instrument. SCIFY is a fundamental research project generating knowledge and contributing to the development of young researchers who are active members of society.

Travail effectué depuis le début du projet jusqu’à la fin de la période considérée dans le rapport et principaux résultats atteints jusqu’à présent

The project started in October 2020 and has already reached several milestones. Regarding the first work package (WP1, enabling extreme contrasts on the VLTI), the state-of-the-art and future directions of the field were published in a review paper and presented in an invited talk at the SPIE (astronomical instrumentation) conference (see Defrère et al. 2020). We have also developed a complete end-to-end VLTI simulator that is now guiding the design choices for the instrument. This simulator has been made open access on GitHub. The development of the laboratory prototype is ongoing (WP2) is ongoing and the first publications are in preparation for 2022. Regarding WP3 (scientific exploitation), we conducted a detailed analysis of an emblematic nearby star, leading to new insights into the structure and origin of the inner planetary system (Defrère et al. 2021).

Progrès au-delà de l’état des connaissances et impact potentiel prévu (y compris l’impact socio-économique et les conséquences sociétales plus larges du projet jusqu’à présent)

While most of the progress beyond the state-of-the-art is expected in the third phase of the project (WP3, scientific exploitation of the new instrument), SCIFY has contributed to making progress in better understanding the limits of the VLTI (Defrère et al. 2020) and the nature of planetary systems (Defrère et al. 2021). By the end of the project, SCIFY is expected to significantly increase the sample of young planetary systems characterized near the snow line, where most giant exoplanets are formed and evolved. The dataset will provide key constraints on the formation processes of planetary systems.

deepest thermal near-infrared image obtained with a single-dish 8-m telescope (Defrere et al., 2014(