A New Concept for Spectro-photometry of Exoplanets with Space-based Telescopes

TL;DR

This paper introduces densified pupil spectroscopy, a novel method for high-precision exoplanet spectrophotometry with space telescopes, effectively reducing systematic errors caused by pointing jitter and mirror deformation.

Contribution

The paper presents a new spectroscopic concept that simplifies spectral acquisition and enhances stability against low-order aberrations for future space telescopes.

Findings

Suppresses systematic errors to 10 ppm

Enables characterization of temperate super-Earths

Suitable for telescopes over 2.5m diameter

Abstract

We propose a new concept for spectral characterization of transiting exoplanets with future space-based telescopes. This concept, called as densified pupil spectroscopy, allows us to perform high, stable spectrophotometry against telescope pointing jitter and deformation of the primary mirror. This densified pupil spectrometer comprises the following three roles: division of a pupil into a number of sub-pupils, densification of each sub-pupil, and acquisition of the spectrum of each sub-pupil with a conventional spectrometer. Focusing on the fact that the divided and densified sub-pupil can be treated as a point source, we discovered that a simplified spectrometer allows us to acquire the spectra of the densified sub-pupils on the detector plane-an optical conjugate with the primary mirror-by putting the divided and densified sub-pupils on the entrance slit of the spectrometer. The acquired multiple spectra are not principally moved on the detector against low-order aberrations such as the telescope pointing jitter and any deformation of the primary mirror. The reliability of the observation result is also increased by statistically treating them. Our numerical calculations show that, because this method suppresses the instrumental systematic errors down to 10 ppm under telescopes with modest pointing accuracy, next-generation space telescopes with more than 2.5m diameter potentially provide opportunities to characterize temperate super-Earths around nearby late-type stars through the transmission spectroscopy and secondary eclipse.