Laboratory for Research of Stars with Exoplanets

Scientific results:

1. We have created a complex of kinetic Monte Carlo models for the efficient computation of heating and expansion of the upper layers of the atmospheres of a wide range of planets rich with volatile substances exposed to stellar radiation and stellar wind plasma.
2. We have conducted an analysis of data of the archive of the Kepler space telescope and the TESS mission.
3. Our researchers have conducted computations of the distribution functions of kinetic energy of Н, С, О atoms in the extended atmospheres (from models of hydrodynamic effusion) of exoplanets on orbits that are very close to their parent star (mini- or sub-Neptumes and super- and exo-Earths).
4. We have conducted a detailed research of the kinetics (at the molecular level) processes of formation, radiation and relaxation in collisions of thermal and suprathermal atoms (Н, С, О etc.) in excited states in the upper layers of the atmospheres of planets.
5. Our researchers have conducted a detailed elaboration of future observations of exoplanetary atmospheres on the international ultraviolet observatory «Spektr–UV».
6. We have computed the rate of the loss of mass by atmospheres and forecasted possible observed manifestations of atmospheric markers.
7. Our researchers have confuted a comparative analysis of UV observations of the atmospheres of exoplanets by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) with numerical assessments of the physical conditions in planetary atmospheres at various stages of their evolution.
8. We have compiled recommendations for conducting observations of UV luminescence of hydrogen and oxygen using space tools.
9. Our researchers have conducted computations of effects related to non-spherical planetary envelopes and with the presence of three-dimensional flows in the case of extended magnetospheres of researched planets.
10. We have developed and applied models for the assessment of the properties the flare activity of stars that have planetary systems from high-precision space observations by the Kepler telescope.
11. Our researchers have conducted a three-dimensional hydrodynamics/magnetic hydrodynamics modeling of the atmospheres of sub-Neptunes and super-Earths exposed to stellar wind.
12. We have conducted a numerical modeling of the rate of the loss of the atmospheres by sub-Neptunes and super-Earths .
13. We have conducted a research of the activity of stars with planetary systems from observations by the TESS space mission.

Education and career development:

• One Candidate of Sciences dissertation has been prepared and defended.
• We have developed and implemented 3 lecture courses for students of Moscow State University and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
• The Laboratory has published the monograph «Gas envelopes of hot-Jupiters».
• Three postgraduate students and one undergraduate student have conducted internships at Uppsala University (Sweden).
• We have conducted 3 international schools «Research of exoplanets».
• We have conducted 2 All-Russian conferences «Research of stars with exoplanets».

Infrastructure transformations:

We have created a high-resolution optical-fiber spectrograph for the 1-m telescope «Zeiss–1000»  of the Simeiz Observatory of the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Collaborations:

• With the Department of Planetary Research of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences: joint research.
• With the group of Prof. Ildar F. Shaikhislamov of the Institute of Laser Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences: joint research.
• With the group of Prof. Helmut Lammer and Prof. Luca Fossati of the Space Research Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Graz, Austria): joint research.