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Project 2: Thermal Emission Studies with JWST. I am a JWST Mid-infrared Instrument (MIRI) Scientist with Guaranteed Time Observations in Cycle 1. I have reserved MIRI Medium Resolution Spectrograph (MRS) observations of three nearby, archetypal debris disk systems: beta Pictoris, eta Crv, and eta Tel. The MIRI MRS is an integral field spectrograph that provides mid-infrared spectra (5-30 micron) and therefore access to silicate dust features (e.g. silica, olivine, pyroxene) and atomic and molecular gas features (e.g. H2O, CO2, HCN). All three systems have silicate emission features that were detected using the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph and CO emission detected using ALMA, indicating that they possess both terrestrial temperature dust and massive Kuiper Belts containing icy bodies. Thus, some of the science goals for this program include searching for changes in the silicate properties since the Spitzer observations (to indicate ongoing collisions) and conducting the first sensitive search for terrestrial temperature volatile gas. The detection of terrestrial temperature gas might indicate that there are undetected planets that are dynamically perturbing KBOs into the inner regions of the planetary systems.
In addition, beta Pic is a young planetary system with 2 known massive gas giant planets in addition to the extremely dusty diskThe beta Pic observations can also be used to study the atmosphere of the exoplanet beta Pic b. The MIRI MRS observations will be obtained at a time when beta Pic b is near greatest elongation, enabling the extraction of the first mid-infrared spectrum for this companion. Based on atmospheric modeling of ground-based photometric measurements, the beta Pic b atmosphere is expected to contain silicate particles whose features the MIRI MRS data could detect for the first time. Extraction of the beta Pic b spectrum will require the use of high contrast imaging techniques, such as reference PSF subtraction. This work would be carried out in collaboration with the STScI Extrasolar Planetary Systems Imaging Group (including Drs. Marshall Perrin, Laurent Pueyo, Julien Girard) and the MIRI Instrument Team (including Drs. Dean Hines and David Law).
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