Multi-Wavelength High-Resolution Spectroscopy for Exoplanet Detection: Motivation, Instrumentation and First Results

TL;DR

This paper discusses the development and initial results of multi-wavelength high-resolution spectroscopy, emphasizing its importance for exoplanet detection, especially around M dwarfs, by combining visible and near-infrared observations.

Contribution

It introduces the motivation, instrumentation, and first results of a multi-wavelength spectroscopic approach for exoplanet detection, highlighting advancements in near-infrared precision and simultaneous visible-NIR observations.

Findings

Progress in high-resolution spectroscopy in visible and near-infrared ranges.

Potential of simultaneous multi-wavelength observations for exoplanet detection.

Mitigation of stellar activity effects in infrared observations.

Abstract

Exoplanet research has shown an incessant growth since the first claim of a hot giant planet around a solar-like star in the mid-1990s. Today, the new facilities are working to spot the first habitable rocky planets around low-mass stars as a forerunner for the detection of the long-awaited Sun-Earth analog system. All~the achievements in this field would not have been possible without the constant development of the technology and of new methods to detect more and more challenging planets. After the consolidation of a top-level instrumentation for high-resolution spectroscopy in the visible wavelength range, a huge effort is now dedicated to reaching the same precision and accuracy in the near-infrared. Actually, observations in this range present several advantages in the search for exoplanets around M dwarfs, known to be the most favorable targets to detect possible habitable planets. They are also characterized by intense stellar activity, which hampers planet detection, but~its impact on the radial velocity modulation is mitigated in the infrared. Simultaneous observations in the visible and near-infrared ranges appear to be an even more powerful technique since they provide combined and complementary information, also useful for many other exoplanetary science~cases.