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| Paper: |
Studying Protoplanets and Protoplanetary Disks with the Habitable Worlds Observatory |
| Monograph: |
10, HWO25 Proceedings Part I: Community Science Case Development Documents |
| Page: |
467 |
| Authors: |
Bin B. Ren (任彬) |
| DOI: |
10.26624/WSUO4484 |
| Abstract: |
Since the discovery of the first exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star, the confirmation of nearly 6000
exoplanets to date—and their diversity—has revolutionized our knowledge of planetary systems in the
past three decades. Nevertheless, the majority of these planets are around mature stars (≳1 Gyr), where the
planet birth environments have already dissipated. Indeed, we have only confirmed 3 forming planets (i.e.,
protoplanets; ≲10 Myr) residing in two systems. In comparison, we have imaged over 200 protoplanetary
disks in the past decade, with many of them hosting substructures such as spirals and gaps which suggest
the existence of protoplanets. To understand the early stages of planet formation, the Habitable Worlds
Observatory (HWO)—with its high-contrast imaging and integral field spectroscopy capabilities—presents
a unique opportunity to explore the demographics of the natal stages of planet formation and their birth
environments. We propose to image protoplanets within substructured protoplanetary disks using HWO via
direct imaging, and characterize them (i.e., protoplanets, protoplanetary disks, circumplanetary disks) using
integral field spectroscopy and spectropolarimetry. This effort will dramatically extend current population of
protoplanets, probing and characterizing over 200 protoplanets. By expanding the number of protoplanets
by two orders of magnitude, these observations will test and refine planet formation theory and planet-disk
interaction theory, and further motivate planet migration studies together with existing mature planets. The
results will offer critical insight into planetary system formation and evolution, and help understand the origin
of our own Solar System.
This article is an adaptation of a science case document developed for HWO’s
Solar System in Context (Birth & Evolution; SSiC BE) Steering Committee. |
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