Up to now and probably for still a long time, the only support of information used to detect exoplanets has been the analysis of light, either visible or infrared. In the vast majority of cases it is ...the light from a star and not the light from the planet itself which is used, because the huge contrast in brightness between the star and a planet orbiting it as well as the extremely short angular distance between them makes direct imaging a real challenge. It is then a subtle effect detected on the starlight that in general indicates the planet’s presence and provides information on some of its characteristics: mass, radius, distance to the star, temperature, etc. As an introduction to the different contributions appearing in this volume, this article proposes a kind of brief review of the various methods imagined by astronomers to exploit one of the properties of the light to succeed in detecting and characterizing exoplanets. We’ll show that even direct detection became a reality and contributes to the more than 5000 exoplanets detected today.
We present new observations of the nuclear star cluster in the central parsec of the Galaxy with the adaptive optics assisted, integral field spectrograph SINFONI on the ESO/VLT. Our work allows the ...spectroscopic detection of early- and late-type stars to mK >= 16, more than 2 mag deeper than our previous data sets. Our observations result in a total sample of 177 bona fide early-type stars. We find that most of these Wolf Rayet (WR), O-, and B-stars reside in two strongly warped disks between 08 and 12'' from Sgr A*, as well as a central compact concentration (the S-star cluster) centered on Sgr A*. The later type B-stars (mK >15) in the radial interval between 08 and 12''seem to be in a more isotropic distribution outside the disks. The observed dearth of late-type stars in the central few arcseconds is puzzling, even when allowing for stellar collisions. The stellar mass function of the disk stars is extremely top heavy with a best-fit power law of dN/dm m -0.45+/- 0.3. WR/O-stars were formed in situ in a single star formation event ~6 Myr ago, this mass function probably reflects the initial mass function (IMF). The mass functions of the S-stars inside 08 and of the early-type stars at distances beyond 12'' are compatible with a standard Salpeter/Kroupa IMF (best-fit power law of dN/dm m -2.15+/- 0.3).
Diophantine Optics Rouan, D.
EAS publications series,
2016, 2016-00-00, Letnik:
78-79
Journal Article
What I call Diophantine optics is the exploitation in optics of some remarkable algebraic relations between powers of integers. The name comes from Diophantus of Alexandria, a greek mathematician, ...known as the father of algebra. He studied polynomial equations with integer coefficients and integer solutions, called diophantine equations. Since constructive or destructive interferences are playing with optical path differences which are multiple integer (odd or even) of λ/2 and that the complex amplitude is a highly non-linear function of the optical path difference (or equivalently of the phase), one can understand that any Taylor development of this amplitude implies powers of integers. This is the link with Diophantine equations. We show how, especially in the field of interferometry, remarkable relations between powers of integers can help to solve several problems, such as achromatization of a phase shifter or deep nulling efficiency. It appears that all the research that was conducted in this frame of thinking, relates to the field of detection of exoplanets, a very active domain of astrophysics today.
Context. Characterization of directly imaged exoplanets is one of the most eagerly anticipated science functions of the James Webb Space Telescope. MIRI, the mid-IR instrument, has the capability to ...provide unique spatially resolved photometric data points in a spectral range never before achieved for such objects.
Aims. We aim to present the very first on-sky contrast measurements of the MIRI coronagraphs. In addition to a classical Lyot coronagraph at the longest wavelength, this observing mode implements the concept of the four-quadrant phase mask for the very first time in a space telescope.
Methods. We observed single stars together with a series of reference stars to measure raw contrasts as they are delivered on the detector, as well as reference-subtracted contrasts.
Results. The MIRI coronagraphs achieve raw contrasts better than 10−3 at the smallest angular separations (within 1″) and about 10−5 farther out (beyond 5 ~ 6″). Subtracting the residual diffracted light left behind the coronagraph has the potential to bring the final contrast down to the background- and detector-limited noise floor at most angular separations (a few times 10−5 at less than 1″).
Conclusions. The MIRI coronagraphs behave as expected from simulations. In particular, the raw contrasts for all four coronagraphs are fully consistent with the diffractive model. Contrasts obtained by subtracting reference stars also meet expectations and are fully demonstrated for two four-quadrant phase masks (F1065C and F1140C). The worst contrast, measured at F1550C, is very likely due to a variation in the phase aberrations at the primary mirror during the observations, and not an issue with the coronagraph itself. We did not perform reference star subtraction with the Lyot mask at F2300C, but we anticipate that it would bring the contrast down to the noise floor.
Aims.
In this paper we aim to constrain the properties of dust structures in the central first parsecs of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Our goal is to study the required optical depth and composition ...of different dusty and ionised structures.
Methods.
We developed a radiative transfer code called Monte Carlo for Active Galactic Nuclei (MontAGN), which is optimised for polarimetric observations in the infrared. With both this code and STOKES, designed to be relevant from the hard X-ray band to near-infrared wavelengths, we investigate the polarisation emerging from a characteristic model of the AGN environment. For this purpose, we compare predictions of our models with previous infrared observations of NGC 1068, and try to reproduce several key polarisation patterns revealed by polarisation mapping.
Results.
We constrain the required dust structures and their densities. More precisely, we find that the electron density inside the ionisation cone is about 2.0 × 10
9
m
−3
. With structures constituted of spherical grains of constant density, we also highlight that the torus should be thicker than 20 in term of
K
-band optical depth to block direct light from the centre. It should also have a stratification in density: a less dense outer rim with an optical depth at 2.2
μ
m typically between 0.8 and 4 for observing the double scattering effect previously proposed.
Conclusions.
We bring constraints on the dust structures in the inner parsecs of an AGN model supposed to describe NGC 1068. When compared to observations, this leads to an optical depth of at least 20 in the
Ks
band for the torus of NGC 1068, corresponding to
τ
V
≈ 170, which is within the range of current estimation based on observations. In the future, we will improve our study by including non-uniform dust structures and aligned elongated grains to constrain other possible interpretations of the observations.
The central parsec around the supermassive black hole in the Galactic center (GC) hosts more than 100 young and massive stars. Outside the central cusp (R ~ 1'') the majority of these O and ...Wolf-Rayet (W-R) stars reside in a main clockwise system, plus a second, less prominent disk or streamer system at large angles with respect to the main system. Here we present the results from new observations of the GC with the AO-assisted near-infrared imager NACO and the integral field spectrograph SINFONI on the ESO/VLT. These include the detection of 27 new reliably measured W-R/O stars in the central 12'' and improved measurements of 63 previously detected stars, with proper motion uncertainties reduced by a factor of 4 compared to our earlier work. Based on the sample of 90 well measured W-R/O stars, we develop a detailed statistical analysis of their orbital properties and orientations. We show that half of the W-R/O stars are compatible with being members of a clockwise rotating system. The rotation axis of this system shows a strong transition from the inner to the outer regions as a function of the projected distance from Sgr A*. The main clockwise system either is either a strongly warped single disk with a thickness of about 10DG, or consists of a series of streamers with significant radial variation in their orbital planes. Eleven out of 61 clockwise moving stars have an angular separation of more than 30DG from the local angular momentum direction of the clockwise system. The mean eccentricity of the clockwise system is 0.36 - 0.06. The distribution of the counterclockwise W-R/O star is not isotropic at the 98% confidence level. It is compatible with a coherent structure such as stellar filaments, streams, small clusters or possibly a disk in a dissolving state: 10 out of 29 counterclockwise moving W-R/O stars have an angular separation of more than 30DG from the local angular momentum direction of the counterclockwise system. The observed disk warp and the steep surface density distribution favor in situ star formation in gaseous accretion disks as the origin of the young massive stars.
PDF
