502 research outputs found
Gemini Planet Imager Observational Calibrations II: Detector Performance and Calibration
The Gemini Planet Imager is a newly commissioned facility instrument designed
to measure the near-infrared spectra of young extrasolar planets in the solar
neighborhood and obtain imaging polarimetry of circumstellar disks. GPI's
science instrument is an integral field spectrograph that utilizes a HAWAII-2RG
detector with a SIDECAR ASIC readout system. This paper describes the detector
characterization and calibrations performed by the GPI Data Reduction Pipeline
to compensate for effects including bad/hot/cold pixels, persistence,
non-linearity, vibration induced microphonics and correlated read noise.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Proceedings of the SPIE, 9147-28
Gemini Planet Imager Observational Calibrations III: Empirical Measurement Methods and Applications of High-Resolution Microlens PSFs
The newly commissioned Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) combines extreme adaptive
optics, an advanced coronagraph, precision wavefront control and a
lenslet-based integral field spectrograph (IFS) to measure the spectra of young
extrasolar giant planets between 0.9-2.5 um. Each GPI detector image, when in
spectral model, consists of ~37,000 microspectra which are under or critically
sampled in the spatial direction. This paper demonstrates how to obtain
high-resolution microlens PSFs and discusses their use in enhancing the
wavelength calibration, flexure compensation and spectral extraction. This
method is generally applicable to any lenslet-based integral field spectrograph
including proposed future instrument concepts for space missions.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. Proceedings of the SPIE, 9147-282 v2: reference
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HST Scattered Light Imaging and Modeling of the Edge-on Protoplanetary Disk ESO-H 569
We present new HST ACS observations and detailed models for a recently
discovered edge-on protoplanetary disk around ESO H 569 (a low-mass T
Tauri star in the Cha I star forming region). Using radiative transfer models
we probe the distribution of the grains and overall shape of the disk
(inclination, scale height, dust mass, flaring exponent and surface/volume
density exponent) by model fitting to multiwavelength (F606W and F814W) HST
observations together with a literature compiled spectral energy distribution.
A new tool set was developed for finding optimal fits of MCFOST radiative
transfer models using the MCMC code emcee to efficiently explore the high
dimensional parameter space. It is able to self-consistently and simultaneously
fit a wide variety of observables in order to place constraints on the physical
properties of a given disk, while also rigorously assessing the uncertainties
in those derived properties. We confirm that ESO H 569 is an optically
thick nearly edge-on protoplanetary disk. The shape of the disk is well
described by a flared disk model with an exponentially tapered outer edge,
consistent with models previously advocated on theoretical grounds and
supported by millimeter interferometry. The scattered light images and spectral
energy distribution are best fit by an unusually high total disk mass (gas+dust
assuming a ratio of 100:1) with a disk-to-star mass ratio of 0.16.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Five Debris Disks Newly Revealed in Scattered Light from the HST NICMOS Archive
We have spatially resolved five debris disks (HD 30447, HD 35841, HD 141943,
HD 191089, and HD 202917) for the first time in near-infrared scattered light
by reanalyzing archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/NICMOS coronagraphic
images obtained between 1999 and 2006. One of these disks (HD 202917) was
previously resolved at visible wavelengths using HST/Advanced Camera for
Surveys. To obtain these new disk images, we performed advanced point-spread
function subtraction based on the Karhunen-Loeve Image Projection (KLIP)
algorithm on recently reprocessed NICMOS data with improved detector artifact
removal (Legacy Archive PSF Library And Circumstellar Environments Legacy
program). Three of the disks (HD 30447, HD 35841, and HD 141943) appear
edge-on, while the other two (HD 191089 and HD 202917) appear inclined. The
inclined disks have been sculpted into rings; in particular, the disk around HD
202917 exhibits strong asymmetries. All five host stars are young (8-40 Myr),
nearby (40-100 pc) F and G stars, and one (HD 141943) is a close analog to the
young sun during the epoch of terrestrial planet formation. Our discoveries
increase the number of debris disks resolved in scattered light from 19 to 23
(a 21% increase). Given their youth, proximity, and brightness (V = 7.2 to
8.5), these targets are excellent candidates for follow-up investigations of
planet formation at visible wavelengths using the HST/STIS coronagraph, at
near-infrared wavelengths with the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) and Very Large
Telescope (VLT)/SPHERE, and at thermal infrared wavelengths with the James Webb
Space Telescope NIRCam and MIRI coronagraphs.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 tabl
Infrared Emission from the Composite Grains: Effects of Inclusions and Porosities on the 10 and 18 Features
In this paper we study the effects of inclusions and porosities on the
emission properties of silicate grains and compare the model curves with the
observed infrared emission from circumstellar dust.
We calculate the absorption efficiency of the composite grain, made up of a
host silicate oblate spheroid and inclusions of ice/graphite/or voids, in the
spectral region 5.0-25.0. The absorption efficiencies of the composite
spheroidal oblate grains for three axial ratios are computed using the discrete
dipole approximation (DDA). We study the absorption as a function of the volume
fraction of the inclusions and porosity. In particular, we study the variation
in the and emission features with the volume fraction of
the inclusions and porosities. We then calculate the infrared fluxes for these
composite grains at several dust temperatures (T=200-350K) and compare the
model curves with the average observed IRAS-LRS curve, obtained for
circumstellar dust shells around oxygen rich M-type stars. The model curves are
also compared with two other individual stars.
The results on the composite grains clearly indicate that the silicate
feature at 10 shifts with the volume fraction of graphite inclusions.
The feature does not shift with the porosity. Both the features do not show any
broadening with the inclusions or porosity. The absorption efficiencies of the
composite grains calculated using DDA and Effective Medium Approximation (EMA)
do not agree. The composite grain models presented in this study need to be
compared with the observed IR emission from the circumstellar dust around a few
more stars.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, 7 tables; To appear in A & A, 201
JWST imaging of edge-on protoplanetary disks. I. Fully vertically mixed 10m grains in the outer regions of a 1000 au disk
Scattered light imaging of protoplanetary disks provides key insights on the
geometry and dust properties in the disk surface. Here we present JWST
2--21\,m images of a 1000\,au-radius edge-on protoplanetary disk
surrounding an 0.4\, young star in Taurus, 2MASS\,J04202144+2813491.
These observations represent the longest wavelengths at which a protoplanetary
disk is spatially resolved in scattered light. We combine these observations
with HST optical images and ALMA continuum and CO mapping. We find that the
changes in the scattered light disk morphology are remarkably small across a
factor of 30 in wavelength, indicating that dust in the disk surface layers is
characterized by an almost gray opacity law. Using radiative transfer models,
we conclude that grains up to m in size are fully coupled to
the gas in this system, whereas grains m are strongly settled
towards the midplane. Further analyses of these observations, and similar ones
of other edge-on disks, will provide strong empirical constraints on disk
dynamics and evolution and grain growth models. In addition, the 7.7 and
12.\,m JWST images reveal an X-shaped feature located above the warm
molecular layer traced by CO line emission. The highest elevations at which
this feature is detectable roughly match the maximal extent of the disk in
visible wavelength scattered light as well as of an unusual kinematic signature
in CO. We propose that these phenomena could be related to a disk wind
entraining small dust grains.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa
JWST imaging of edge-on protoplanetary disks II. Appearance of edge-on disks with a tilted inner region: case study of IRAS04302+2247
We present JWST imaging from 2m to 21m of the edge-on
protoplanetary disk around the embedded young star IRAS04302+2247. The
structure of the source shows two reflection nebulae separated by a dark lane.
The source extent is dominated by the extended filamentary envelope at
4.4m and shorter wavelengths, transitioning at 7m and longer
wavelengths to more compact lobes of scattered light from the disk itself. The
dark lane thickness does not vary significantly with wavelength, which we
interpret as an indication for intermediate-sized (m) grains in the
upper layers of the disk. Intriguingly, we find that the brightest nebula of
IRAS40302 switches side between 12.8m and 21m. We explore the effect
of a tilted inner region on the general appearance of edge-on disks. We find
that radiative transfer models of a disk including a tilted inner region can
reproduce an inversion in the brightest nebula. In addition, for specific
orientations, the model also predicts strong lateral asymmetries, which can
occur for more than half possible viewing azimuths. A large number of edge-on
protoplanetary disks observed in scattered light show such lateral asymmetries
(15/20), which suggests that a large fraction of protoplanetary disks might
host a tilted inner region. Stellar spots may also induce lateral asymmetries,
which are expected to vary over a significantly shorter timescale. Variability
studies of edge-on disks would allow to test the dominant scenario for the
origin of these asymmetries.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Bringing "The Moth" to Light: A Planet-Sculpting Scenario for the HD 61005 Debris Disk
The HD 61005 debris disk ("The Moth") stands out from the growing collection
of spatially resolved circumstellar disks by virtue of its unusual swept-back
morphology, brightness asymmetries, and dust ring offset. Despite several
suggestions for the physical mechanisms creating these features, no definitive
answer has been found. In this work, we demonstrate the plausibility of a
scenario in which the disk material is shaped dynamically by an eccentric,
inclined planet. We present new Keck NIRC2 scattered-light angular differential
imaging of the disk at 1.2-2.3 microns that further constrains its outer
morphology (projected separations of 27-135 AU). We also present complementary
Gemini Planet Imager 1.6 micron total intensity and polarized light detections
that probe down to projected separations less than 10 AU. To test our
planet-sculpting hypothesis, we employed secular perturbation theory to
construct parent body and dust distributions that informed scattered-light
models. We found that this method produced models with morphological and
photometric features similar to those seen in the data, supporting the premise
of a planet-perturbed disk. Briefly, our results indicate a disk parent body
population with a semimajor axis of 40-52 AU and an interior planet with an
eccentricity of at least 0.2. Many permutations of planet mass and semimajor
axis are allowed, ranging from an Earth mass at 35 AU to a Jupiter mass at 5
AU.Comment: Accepted to AJ; added Figure 5 and minor text edit
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