Marc Kuchner
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Keck Interferometer Nuller Shared-Risk Science Program
Zodiacal LightClementine 1994
RadiationPressure
10 yrP-R Drag
10 yr6
Terrestrial Planet Finder /Darwin ?
Terrestrial Planet Finder /Darwin ?
Vegaarcsec
arcsec
IRAM Plateau de Bure 1.3 mm
1) YSO Disks
2) Exozodiacal Dust
3) Hot Jupiters
Keck Interferometer Nuller Shared-Risk Science Program
Keck Nulling Interferometer
Keck Thermal Background Remover and
High Accuracy Interferometer
Terms with no Thermal Background
Real Source Intensity
1) YSO disks
TW Hydra, NICMOS
surface
star
rim
interior
1500 K
Small Grain Sublimation
Balbus-Hawley Turbulence?
Magnetic Truncation ?
2) Exozodiacal Dust
Eridani, JCMT
ZODIPIChttp://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~mkuchner
Optically-Thin Dust DiskModeling Software
IDL
Image 1-Visibility
Simulate Keck Nuller Data
•Photon Noise•Stellar Leak (10% Uncertain)•(u,v) coverage for star•Distribution of i, PA•0.5 m bands covering 10-12.5m
Try to Recover Optical Depth ofCloud from Simulated Data by
Fitting Models
simulated measurement error
assumed uncertainty in stellar leakage
resultinguncertainty in
measurement of10x Solar Cloud
optical depth
>800 K, <20 pc
Roaster (<0.5 AU)or
Young (<10 years) 9
3) Hot Jupiters
Inside Quadratic Null
•star and planet are spectrallydegenerate ( )
•planet and flux are
degenerate
Break with(u,v) coverage?knowledge of stellar leak?
-4
ObserveNow
Simulate Keck Nuller Data
•Photon Noise•Stellar Leak (10% Uncertain)•(u,v) coverage for star•1 night, zenith angle < 45°•50% Observing Efficiency•Distribution of i,
fluxmeasurement
error
Principle InvestigatorsWesley TraubMarc Kuchner
Co-InvestigatorsDana BackmanMatthew HolmanRay JayawardhanaRafael Millan-GabetJohn MonnierAndreas Quirrenbach
JPL CollaboratorsMark ColavitaMichelle Creech-EakmanChris KoreskoBertrand MennessonGene Searbyn