Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SPICE DUNE (A SpectroPhotometric Inquiry of Close-in Exoplanets around the Desert to Understand their Nature and Evolution)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2021-03-01 do 2022-08-31
The proposed research addresses high-priority questions related to the origins of close-in planets, and has implications for the origin of both extrasolar systems and our own solar system's evolution.
- upgrade of the team's numerical code to simulate the upper atmosphere of giant planets, and development of a more detailed model to describe their thermosphere. Several associated publications are in preparation
- participation to several publications (see list) about the observation of atmospheric escape from gas-rich planets
- collaboration initiated to design and develop an instrument dedicated to measuring atmospheric escape signatures
Main work performed on WP JADE:
- development of a numerical code simulating the coupled atmospheric and dynamical evolution of a close-in planet system over secular timescales (Attia et al. 2021, A&A, 647, A40)
- development of a new technique to measure the orbital architecture of exoplanets. Used to discover a system with two planets on perpendicular orbits (Bourrier et al. 2021, A&A 654, A152), and now applied routinely to perform measurements of orbital architectures (eg Bourrier et al. 2022, A&A 663, A160)
Main work performed on WP JASPER:
- publications on the orbital and structural properties of ultra-short period planets are in press
Overall work on the project:
- over the first financial reporting period, the team has co-signed 30 articles in international refereed journals, including 4 as first authors.
- results have been disseminated through conferences, press releases and interviews
- the team obtained several open time observing programs on ground-based and space-borne instruments, and participated in guaranteed observation programs.
- development of a new technique to measure orbital architectures, giving access to smaller planets down to the Earth-size regime
- development of an advanced model coupling the atmospheric and dynamical secular evolution of close-in giant exoplanets
- ongoing work on a 3D model of giant planets upper atmospheres, coupling collision-less and fluid regimes
Expected results:
- a better knowledge of orbital architectures and thus migration pathways in systems bordering the Neptunian desert
- understanding the interplay between atmospheric and orbital evolution, and their relative roles in shaping the Neptunian desert
- developing a model allowing for a finer interpretation of absorption signatures from the upper atmosphere of giant planets