A New Method for the Discovery of the Distant Exoplanets II: Question of Signal-to-Noise Ratio

TL;DR

This paper discusses enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio of a novel HBT interferometry-inspired method for discovering distant exoplanets with long orbital periods, addressing a key challenge in the technique's practical application.

Contribution

It introduces strategies to improve the low SNR issue in the proposed exoplanet detection method based on modified HBT interferometry.

Findings

Proposed modifications can significantly enhance SNR in the detection process.

The method's sensitivity to luminous object asymmetry is improved.

Potential for practical application in long-period exoplanet discovery is increased.

Abstract

Exoplanets with a long orbital period are difficult to discover by extant methods. Our first publication (Lerner, P., A. Mayer, T. E. Sullivan. 2023. A new method for the discovery of the distant exoplanets. SPIE Proceedings 12680: 126802(M)) proposed a Hanbury-Brown-Twiss (HBT) interferometry-inspired method to find exoplanets with a very slow-changing influence on their host star. Traditional HBT interferometry measured the modulus of the correlation function. Slight modification of the HBT can determine its real part. Simultaneous observation of both characteristics, e.g. in a binocular setting of telescopes, is exceptionally sensitive to the asymmetry of the luminous object. However, the issue of a very small signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for HBT makes application of this method difficult. In the current paper, we discuss the possibilities to enhance the low SNR of the method.