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| Paper: |
Toward Direct Detection of Hot Jupiters with Precision Closure Phase |
| Volume: |
487, Resolving The Future Of Astronomy With Long-Baseline Interferometry |
| Page: |
185 |
| Authors: |
Zhao, M.; Monnier, J. D.; Che, X.; Pedretti, E.; Thureau, N. |
| Abstract: |
Direct detection of thermal emission from nearby hot Jupiters has greatly advanced our knowledge of extrasolar planets in recent years.
Since hot Jupiter systems can be regarded as analogs of high-contrast binaries, ground-based infrared long-baseline interferometers
have the potential to resolve them and detect their thermal emission with precision closure phase—a method that is immune to the systematic errors induced by the Earth's atmosphere.
Here we present closure phase studies toward direct detection of nearby hot Jupiters using the CHARA interferometer array outfitted with the MIRC instrument. We find much larger systematic errors than expected in our observations, most likely caused by dispersion across different wavelengths. We also find that using higher spectral resolution modes (e.g., R=150) can significantly reduce the systematics.
By combining all calibrators in an observing run together, we are able to roughly re-calibrate the lower spectral resolution data, allowing us to obtain upper limits of the star-planet contrast ratios of υ And b across the H band. The data also allow us to get a refined stellar radius of 1.625±0.011R☉.
Our best upper limit corresponds to a contrast ratio of 2.1×103:1 with 90% confidence level at 1.52μm, suggesting that we are starting to have the capability of constraining atmospheric models of hot Jupiters with interferometry. |
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