From Exoplanets to Quasars: Adventures in Angular Differential Imaging

TL;DR

This paper explores the diverse applications of angular differential imaging in astrophysics, extending its use from exoplanet detection to characterizing substellar objects and identifying host galaxies of quasars, demonstrating its versatility.

Contribution

It introduces new applications of angular differential imaging, including probing host galaxies of quasars and provides a comprehensive overview from data reduction to astrophysical characterization.

Findings

Demonstrated the effectiveness of angular differential imaging in detecting faint host galaxies of quasars.

Extended the application of angular differential imaging beyond exoplanets to substellar objects and galaxy detection.

Provided a theoretical framework for data reduction in high-contrast imaging.

Abstract

Angular differential imaging provides a novel way of probing the high contrast of our universe. Until now, its applications have been primarily localized to searching for exoplanets around nearby stars. This work presents a suite of applications of angular differential imaging from the theoretical underpinning of data reduction, to its use characterizing substellar objects to a new application looking for the host galaxies of damped Lyman {\alpha} systems, which are usually lost in the glare of ultra-bright quasars along the line of sight.