利用CSST/MCI鉴别系外行星透射谱的恒星污染
Discrimination of Stellar Contamination in Exoplanet Transmission Spectra with CSST/MCI
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摘要: 中国巡天空间望远镜(Chinese Survey Space Telescope, CSST)预计对系外行星开展大气观测研究, 这为系外行星观测领域提供了新的机遇. 目前主要通过凌星透射谱来研究系外行星大气. 然而, 实际观测数据中已经发现恒星活动存在的迹象, 且结果表明难以准确约束恒星活动污染. 所以, 如何准确区分并剔除恒星活动污染是透射光谱学的一个重大挑战. 因此, 在选择透射谱观测目标进行跟进观测时, 需要对潜在的恒星污染及其可区分性进行定量评估, 这需要大规模的仿真来提供预期数据. 利用多色测光法结合机器学习来判别系外气态行星大气透射谱中是否存在潜在的恒星污染, 针对CSST的多通道相机(Multi-Channel Imager, MCI)设计能准确预判透射谱是否存在恒星污染的滤光片观测组合, 可为后续系外行星大气观测目标的策略制定提供一定的参考.Abstract: The Chinese Survey Space Telescope (CSST) is expected to characterize the atmospheres of exoplanets, providing new opportunities for exoplanet observations. At present, the atmospheres of exoplanets have mostly been studied by transmission spectroscopy. However, evidence of stellar activity has been found in several observed transmission spectra, and the results show that it is difficult to accurately constrain the stellar contamination. Therefore, how to accurately distinguish and eliminate stellar contamination has become a major challenge in transmission spectroscopy. Consequently, a quantitative assessment of the potential stellar contamination and its distinguishability is required when selecting targets for follow-up transmission spectroscopy observations, which requires large-scale simulations to provide the expected data. Here we use multi-color photometry combined with machine learning to identify potential stellar contamination in the transmission spectra of extrasolar gas planets, and design a filter combination with the highest accuracy for stellar contamination discrimination for the CSST Multi-Channel Imager (MCI), which can provide options for developing observing strategies for follow-up observations of exoplanet atmospheric targets.