Galactic Science: Star and Planet Formation

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Galactic ScienceStar and Planet Formation

• Michael Liu
• Andrea Ghez, Tom Greene, Lynne Hillenbrand,
  Jessica Lu, Bruce Macintosh, Stan Metchev, Nevin
  Weinberg
• Keck SSC meeting, June 2006

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Galactic ScienceKey Science Cases

• Extrasolar Planets (Liu, Macintosh)
• Debris Disks (Metchev, Liu)
• Protostars (Hillenbrand, Greene)
• Galactic Center (Weinberg, Ghez, Lu)

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AO is critical for star/planet formation
There are/will be numerous wide-field surveys of
the sky for finding young stars of various ages
IRAS, Hipparcos, Chandra, Spitzer,
JCMT/SCUBA-2,Pan-STARRS, etc.
Follow-up observations of the relevant physical
scales are lt1 arcsec angular resolution high
contrast are critical
NGC 1333 34x26Spitzer/IRAC
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Why do we need NGAO?

• Very high-contrast near-IR imagingdirectly image
  planets and debris disks
• Large sky coveragestudy stars over a very wide
  range of masses ages
• Multi-band optical and IR wavelengthsdetermine
  properties evolution of circumstellar material

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Obligatory star planet formation slide
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Obligatory star planet formation slide
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Resolving the protostellar environment


Use observed integrated-light SEDs high
resolution images to study the evolution of the
youngest stars.
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NGAO optical imaging of protostars

• Simulated I-band (scattered light) image of a
  protostar with a massive envelope disk at 1 kpc

NGAO provides highest angular resolution of any
filled-aperture telescope (and complementary to
ALMA for this science).
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Obligatory star planet formation slide
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Debris Disks Extrasolar analogs to the asteroid
Kuiper Belt
Keck NGS H-band
Resolved disks are a goldmine for studying

• structure
• composition
• evolution
• low-mass planets

100s of these known from integrated light, but
only 12 resolved to date (2 by AO).
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Debris disks studies with NGAOsimulated 3-hour
H-band integration of massive Kuiper Belt in the
Pleiades (120 Myr, 130 pc)
Solar system model
High Strehl NGAO
Keck AO today
Undetectable Neptune with 11 resonant dust ring
NGAO could image many (10s-100s) analogs to the
young solar system, study other Kuiper Belts
low-mass planets
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Obligatory star planet formation slide
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Planets around VLM stars brown dwarfs

• Direct imaging and spectroscopy of planets easier
  around low-mass stars and brown dwarfs.
• Study objects with SEDs atmospheres similar to
  regular exoplanets, but perhaps with diff
  origin.
• High contrast LGS IR tiptilt needed.

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NGAO Planet detection sensitivity

• Very high contrast in near-IR enables imaging of
  Jovian-mass planets around low-mass stars and
  brown dwarfs.

• This can only be done by NGAO. The stars are too
  optically faint for ExAO systems (Ilt8-9).
• A unique avenue for testing planet formation
  models, by using a wide range of stellar host
  mass.

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NGAO opens a unique realm for high contrast
studies for a broad range of science programs.
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Why do we need NGAO?

• Very high-contrast near-IR imagingdirectly image
  planets and debris disks
• Large sky coveragestudy stars over a very wide
  range of masses ages
• Multi-band optical and IR wavelengthsdetermine
  properties evolution of circumstellar material

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The End