Report - School of Physics

3.2.2 The Darwin Ground-Based Precursor: GENIE . . . . . . . . . 51
3.2.3 Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.3 ESA Themes: 2015–2025 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.4 Other Concepts and Future Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.5 Summary of Prospects: 2015–2025 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4 The Role of ESO and ESA Facilities 59
4.1 The Expected Direction of Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.2 Follow-Up Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4.2.1 High-Mass Planets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4.2.2 Low-Mass Planets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.2.3 Summary of Follow-Up Facilities Required . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.3 Statistics of Exo-Planets: Implications for Darwin/OWL . . . . . . . 64
4.4 Astrophysical Characterisation of Host Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.4.1 A Dedicated Spectral Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.5 Potential Overlap and Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.6 Open Areas: Survey Mission Beyond Kepler/Eddington . . . . . . . . 68
4.7 Other Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4.7.1 Fundamental Physical Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4.7.2 Fundamental Planetary Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.7.3 Amateur Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5 Recommendations 72
Appendices 75
A Space Precursors: Interferometers, Coronographs and Apodizers 75
B Beyond 2025: Life Finder and Planet Imager 77
C ESO 1997 Working Group on Extra-Solar Planets 79
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