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Search and investigation of extra-solar planets with polarimetry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2006

H. M. Schmid ,
J.-L. Beuzit ,
M. Feldt ,
D. Gisler ,
R. Gratton ,
Th. Henning ,
F. Joos ,
M. Kasper ,
R. Lenzen  and
D. Mouillet
...Show all authors
H. M. Schmid
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
J.-L. Beuzit
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique, Observatoire de Grenoble, France
M. Feldt
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Heidelberg, Germany
D. Gisler
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
R. Gratton
Affiliation:
INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Italy
Th. Henning
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Heidelberg, Germany
F. Joos
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
M. Kasper
Affiliation:
European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany
R. Lenzen
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Heidelberg, Germany
D. Mouillet
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, Tarbes, France,
C. Moutou
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, France
A. Quirrenbach
Affiliation:
Sterrewacht, Leiden University, the Netherlands
D. M. Stam
Affiliation:
Astronomical Institute “Anton Pannekoek”, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
C. Thalmann
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
J. Tinbergen
Affiliation:
ASTRON, Dwingeloo, the Netherlands
C. Verinaud
Affiliation:
European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany
R. Waters
Affiliation:
Astronomical Institute “Anton Pannekoek”, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
R. Wolstencroft
Affiliation:
Astronomy Technology Center, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, UK
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Abstract

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Light reflected from planets is polarized. This basic property of planets provides the possibility for detecting and characterizing extra-solar planets using polarimetry. The expected polarization properties of extra-solar planets are discussed that can be inferred from polarimetry of “our” solar system planets. They show a large variety of characteristics depending on the atmospheric and/or surface properties. Best candidates for a polarimetric detection are extra-solar planets with an optically thick Rayleigh scattering layer.

Even the detection of highly polarized extra-solar planets requires a very sophisticated instrument. We present the results from a phase A (feasibility) study for a polarimetric arm in the ESO VLT planet finder instrument. It is shown that giant planets around nearby stars can be searched and investigated with an imaging polarimeter, combined with a powerful AO system and a coronagraph at an 8 m class telescope.

A similar type of polarimeter is also considered for the direct detection of terrestrial planets using an AO system on one of the future Extremely Large Telescopes.

Keywords

exoplanetsscatteringpolarizationinstrumentation
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 1 , Colloquium C200: Direct Imaging of Exoplanets: Science & Techniques , October 2005 , pp. 165 - 170
Copyright
© 2006 International Astronomical Union