Astro-space Proposal: AstroBiology (Extra-solar planets)
(1) Background
Astrobiology, the study of Life in the Universe, is one of the broadest and fastest emerging
disciplines in science today. It has a wide public appeal because the questions addressed are
profound but readily understandable. What is Life and how did it start ? What conditions are
necessary for Life to emerge and thrive? Is Earth unique in supporting life? Are we alone in the
Universe? The breadth of the subject requires an inter-disciplinary approach, spanning Chemistry,
Physics, Astronomy, Biology, Climatology, Geophysics, and Information Technology.
(2) Scientific case
Extrasolar Planets. After centuries of speculation, astronomers have at last found evidence for
extra-solar planets and have begun to examine their properties. At present over 100 planets, all
large gas giants like Jupiter, have been identified orbiting nearby stars. The next 5-20 years will be
a crucial historic period because of key international facilities, especially robotic telescope
networks and wide-field monitoring cameras (led by the UK), 8m telescopes able to study planet
spectra, and a stream of upcoming space missions including Corot, Kepler, Eddington, Gaia, and
Darwin. The first small rocky planets like Earth will be found within 5-10 years, and the first
`habitable' Earths within 10-20. By 2025 we should know whether Life exists on nearby Earth-like
worlds. Ambitious theoretical work, using computers to simulate the process of planetary system
formation, is important to place alongside these observational developments.
Scottish strengths and prospects. Scotland has a nucleus of expertise and rapidly growing track
record in planet hunting and the theory of planetary system formation. Targeted investment will
enable Scotland to emerge as a world leader. At Edinburgh, the key advantage is the IR-mm
detector group at PPARC's Astronomy Technology Centre (ATC), co-located with the University's
Institute for Astronomy (IfA). Their SCUBA camera made the first pictures of debris disks in
which planets are forming around nearby stars, and the ATC expect to lead development of the IR
camera for Darwin, which will look for diagnostics of biological activity in planet spectra. A small
number of researchers at ATC and IfA are also active in a variety of observational projects, and
Edinburgh is recognized by NASA as a node of its Astrobiology network. St.Andrews is probably
the leading UK group working on discovery of new extra-solar planets, and theoretical studies of
planet formation. The WASP experiment will reveal several hundred `hot Jupiters' in the next five
years. The REX experiment, lead by St.Andrews and part of the NERC-PPARC SR2004 bid
'Conditions for Life', will hunt for `cool' planets and could reveal the first Earth-sized planets by
2007.
(3) Enhancing excellence
SUPA provides the opportunity to bolster and Scotland's exoplanet research teams at St.Andrews
and Edinburgh to create an activity that is UK leading and world class. The timing of this
development is significant as 2004 should see the first wave of exoplanet discoveries from the
WASP and RoboNet planet search experiments. Collaborations are already developing between St
Andrews and Edinburgh to exploit these datasets.
(4) Anticipated benefits and beneficiaries
Scotland's public will benefit from the opportunity to participate in the discovery of planets beyond
the solar system. The high media profile of such discoveries will reach far beyond Scotland,
raising the profile of the nation on the international stage, and showcasing Scotland's leadership in
technology development and exploration of the Universe. Young people, inspired by the quest,
will be attracted to careers in science and technology. The broader context of astrobiology will link
the astrophysical work on extrasolar planets to a broader interdisciplinary programme, linking
astronomy, physics, biology, geology, and information techonology, to address the question of the
origin of life, on our planet and beyond.
(5) Managing the collaboration.
We aim to strengthen collaborations linking the St.Andrews and Edinburgh research teams
engaged in exoplanet searches, development of instrumentation, and theoretical studies. This will
arise from frequent exchange of academics and research fellows between the two institutions, and
collaborations on joint experiments and research papers. We plan to hold open meetings on a
quarterly basis, alternating between the two institutions to report progress, exchange ideas, and
brainstorm. A programme of visiting scientists will foster connections and raise the profile of the
Scottish activity in the context of the international community. An annual Astrobiology meeting
will foster interactions among the astrobiology community within and outwith Scotland.
(6) Request for resources
(i) New academic appointments. We propose a new chair-level appointment in St Andrews, and a
new Lecturer in Edinburgh. The St Andrews chair is intended to attract a high-profile person in the
area of theoretical and computational studies of star and planet formation, who can interact
strongly with the observational groups. Chair £85K/yr, lecturer £40k/yr,
(ii) Research Fellows. We propose two RFs, one in St Andrews and one in Edinburgh. These will
directly support and amplify the observational effort, to take advantage of upcoming
opportunities.Two research fellows £67k/yr.
(iii) New equipment. Significant computational resources will be required to support the research.
For theoretical simulations in St Andrews we require a dedicated SMP machine with significant
storage costed at 100K, and several image processing workstations for new staff, estimated at 20K.
Edinburgh will concentrate on storing, curating, and serving the large scale databases we expect to
accumulate at a rate of several TB/yr, which we need to search and analyse efficiently, using
multi-disk pixel servers as developed for the WFCAM Science Archive. This is costed at an
additional 80K/yr. Note that St Andrews is already devoting £300K of SRIF money to develop
hardware for the WASP planet-hunting camera Equipment £200K.