Detecting exoplanets with FAST?

Philippe Zarka (1) , Di Li (2) , Jean-Mathias Griessmeier (3) , Laurent Lamy (1) , Julien N. Girard (4) , Sébastien Hess (5) , Joseph Lazio (6) , Gregg Hallinan (6)

1 LESIA (UMR_8109) - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
2 National Astronomical Observatory
3 LPC2E - Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace
4 IRFU - Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers
5 ONERA - The French Aerospace Lab [Toulouse]
6 CALTECH - California Institute of Technology

We briefly review the various proposed scenarios that may lead to nonthermal radio emissions from exoplanetary systems (planetary magnetospheres, magnetosphere-ionosphere and magnetosphere-satellite coupling, and star-planet interactions), and the physical information that can be drawn from their detection. The latter scenario is especially favorable to the production of radio emission above 70 MHz. We summarize the results of past and recent radio searches, and then discuss FAST characteristics and observation strategy. including synergies. We emphasize the importance of polarization measurements and a high duty-cycle for the very weak targets that radio-exoplanets prove to be.

Keywords: plasmas; radiation mechanisms: non-thermal; methods: observational; telescopes (radio); planets and satellites: magnetic fields; radio continuum: planetary systems

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]

Philippe Zarka, Di Li, Jean-Mathias Griessmeier, Laurent Lamy, Julien N. Girard, et al.. Detecting exoplanets with FAST?. Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2019, 19 (2), pp.023. ⟨10.1088/1674-4527/19/2/23⟩. ⟨insu-02080310⟩