Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE): XIV. Finding terrestrial protoplanets in the galactic neighborhood

Lorenzo Cesario, Tim Lichtenberg, Eleonora Alei, Óscar Carrión-González, Felix A. Dannert, Denis Defrère, Steve Ertel, Andrea Fortier, A. García Muñoz, Adrian M. Glauser, Jonah T. Hansen, Ravit Helled, Philipp A. Huber, Michael J. Ireland, Jens Kammerer, Romain Laugier, Jorge Lillo-Box, Franziska Menti, Michael R. Meyer, Lena NoackSascha P. Quanz, Andreas Quirrenbach, Sarah Rugheimer, Floris Van Der Tak, Haiyang S. Wang, Marius Anger, Olga Balsalobre-Ruza, Surendra Bhattarai, Marrick Braam, Amadeo Castro-González, Charles S. Cockell, Tereza Constantinou, Gabriele Cugno, Jeanne Davoult, Manuel Güdel, Nina Hernitschek, Sasha Hinkley, Satoshi Itoh, Markus Janson, Anders Johansen, Hugh R.A. Jones, Stephen R. Kane, Tim A. Van Kempen, Kristina G. Kislyakova, Judith Korth, Andjelka B. Kovačević, Stefan Kraus, Rolf Kuiper, Joice Mathew, Taro Matsuo, Yamila Miguel, Michiel Min, Ramon Navarro, Ramses M. Ramirez, Heike Rauer, Berke Vow Ricketti, Amedeo Romagnolo, Martin Schlecker, Evan L. Sneed, Vito Squicciarini, Keivan G. Stassun, Motohide Tamura, Daniel Viudez-Moreiras, Robin D. Wordsworth

Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

Abstract

Context. The increased brightness temperature of young rocky protoplanets during their magma ocean epoch makes them potentially amenable to atmospheric characterization at distances from the Solar System far greater than thermally equilibrated terrestrial exoplanets, offering observational opportunities for unique insights into the origin of secondary atmospheres and the near surface conditions of prebiotic environments. Aims. The Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE) mission will employ a space-based midinfrared nulling interferometer to directly measure the thermal emission of terrestrial exoplanets. In this work, we seek to assess the capabilities of various instrumental design choices of the LIFE mission concept for the detection of cooling protoplanets with transient high-temperature magma ocean atmospheres at the tail end of planetary accretion. In particular, we investigate the minimum integration times necessary to detect transient magma ocean exoplanets in young stellar associations in the Solar neighborhood. Methods. Using the LIFE mission instrument simulator (LIFEsim), we assessed how specific instrumental parameters and design choices, such as wavelength coverage, aperture diameter, and photon throughput, facilitate or disadvantage the detection of protoplan-ets. We focused on the observational sensitivities of distance to the observed planetary system, protoplanet brightness temperature (using a blackbody assumption), and orbital distance of the potential protoplanets around both G- and M-dwarf stars. Results. Our simulations suggest that LIFE will be able to detect (S/N ≥ 7) hot protoplanets in young stellar associations up to distances of 100 pc from the Solar System for reasonable integration times (up to a few hours). Detection of an Earth-sized protoplanet orbiting a Solar-sized host star at 1 AU requires less than 30 minutes of integration time. M-dwarfs generally need shorter integration times. The contribution from wavelength regions smaller than 6 μm is important for decreasing the detection threshold and discriminating emission temperatures. Conclusions. The LIFE mission is capable of detecting cooling terrestrial protoplanets within minutes to hours in several local young stellar associations hosting potential targets. The anticipated compositional range of magma ocean atmospheres motivates further architectural design studies to characterize the crucial transition from primary to secondary atmospheres.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberA172
Number of pages18
JournalAstronomy and Astrophysics
Volume692
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2024

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

  • 103003 Astronomy
  • 103004 Astrophysics

Keywords

  • Instrumentation: interferometers
  • Planets and satellites: detection
  • Planets and satellites: terrestrial planets

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