Michael Liu, IfA/Hawaii

"Extrasolar Planetary Systems at High Angular Resolution"

Abstract:
Detection and characterization of extrasolar planetary systems demand
a challenging combination of both high angular resolution and high
contrast.  New adaptive optics (AO) studies on the largest
ground-based telescopes can meet this challenge.  We discuss AO
studies of the evolution of young debris disks (the extrasolar analogs
of the young Kuiper Belt) and of direct detection of young massive
planets.  For the latter, our team has been selected to carry out an
extensive multi-year search to directly image extrasolar planets
around other stars using the new high contrast imager NICI at the
Gemini-South Telescope.  Our NICI Planet-Finding Campaign is expected
to be the largest and most sensitive imaging survey to date for
massive (~1 Mjup) planets around other stars.