The PLATO field selection process III. Selection of the Prime Sample for the LOPS2 field

TL;DR

This paper details the selection process and criteria for the Prime Sample of stars for the PLATO mission's LOPS2 field, aiming to identify Earth-like exoplanets.

Contribution

It introduces a general method for ranking stars for transiting planet surveys and describes the properties of the selected Prime Sample.

Findings

Defined quantitative metrics and thresholds for Prime Sample selection.

Provided statistical and specific target properties of the LOPS2 Prime Sample.

Established a general ranking method applicable to other star surveys.

Abstract

The PLanetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) mission will begin its four-year nominal mission in early 2027 by monitoring its Long-duration Observation Phase field at South (LOPS2) for at least two years continuously. The primary aim of PLATO is a very ambitious and challenging one: the discovery of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone of nearby and bright solar analogues. To this purpose, the PLATO Mission Consortium, through its Ground-based Observing Program, will perform the follow-up needed to confirm part of the candidate planets photometrically detected by PLATO and measure their masses through radial velocity curves. For the LOPS2, the Ground-based Observing Program is committed (as part of the PLATO mission) to follow-up the candidate exoplanets discovered orbiting the 15,000 high-quality target subset of the PLATO Input Catalog (PIC) known as the Prime Sample. The Prime Sample will be made public nine months before launch in the context of the first Guest Observer call for proposals to be issued by the European Space Agency. Here, we present the quantitative metrics and thresholds defined to select and prioritize the Prime Sample. Our method is perfectly general and suitable to rank any list of stars surveyed for transiting planets. We also describe the astrophysical properties of the LOPS2 Prime Sample, both in a statistical sense and for some specific targets of interest.