Iras-allsky

Arpita Roy (PSU): The Promise of Many Worlds: Building New Gold Standards in Precision Spectroscopy

October
5
S M T W T F S

As small worlds tug gently on the stars around us, we are driven to build instruments that can discern the smallest stellar motions and reveal this population of planets. However, the path to extreme precision spectroscopy, required to detect Earth-like planets, is a difficult one that must be forged from technological and scientific discovery. Anchored by the success of HARPS, PARAS and other precision spectrographs in the field, we are moving into the development of complete radial velocity systems that are capable of detecting small planets in both the optical and near-infrared (NIR). I will discuss two such instruments being developed at Penn State: (a) the Habitable Zone Planet Finder, a NIR spectrograph for the 10m Hobby-Eberly Telescope, designed to search for HZ planets around M-dwarfs, and (b) NEID, an optical instrument designed for the 3.5m WIYN telescope, in response to the NN-EXPLORE call for an extreme precision Doppler spectrograph. Both instruments aggressively address potential noise sources by incorporating ultra-stable environmental control, state-of-the-art wavelength calibration, innovative fiber feed design, and broad wavelength coverage with a suite of stellar activity indicators. The science enabled by these instruments will be far-reaching, ranging from immediate follow-up of TESS and K2 candidates, to identifying targets for future space missions such as WFIRST-AFTA, HabEx or LUVOIR. Thus, despite the many challenges of reaching into spectroscopic data for the small signatures of small planets, current technological R&D is bringing us firmly into the realm of detecting the Earths around us.

Date: October 5th, 2016
Location: MR LCR