Reference number : GC-2017-Q2-05414, amendment number : , agreement type : G, recipient legal name : Benneke, Björn (Université de Montréal), recipient country : CA, recipient province : nan, recipient city : Quebec|Québec, recipient postal code : nan, program name english : Discovery Grants Program - Individual, program name french : Programme de subventions à la découverte - individuelles, program purpose english : The next five years present a truly unique opportunity in the history of planetary astrophysics. For the first time, we have the observational techniques, the theoretical models, and a sufficient number of known exoplanets orbiting nearby stars to spectroscopically characterize a wide diversity of planets&mdash;ranging from hot giant planets to temperate Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone of their host stars. My group is currently in a unique position to make the next big leaps in this rapidly growing field of exoplanet characterization because I recently developed a novel theoretical modeling technique to interpret spectroscopic observations of exoplanets (Benneke 2016) and I was awarded several unprecedented observational programs using the Hubble Space Telescope (334&nbsp;hours), the Spitzer Space Telescope (217 hours), and the Keck observatories (11&nbsp;nights) to obtain the necessary data for this characterization. Benefitting from this unique starting position, I will establish a research group at Universit&eacute; de Montr&eacute;al that will be among the worldwide leading groups in the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres. Highlights of my near-term work will be: 
 
1. the first comprehensive spectroscopic survey of planets in the intriguing super-Earth regime with planetary masses between Earth and Neptune (PI&nbsp;Benneke, HST GO 13665, 199 hours), 
 
2. the first atmospheric characterizations of planets in the habitable zone of their host stars (PI Benneke, HST GO 14682, 125 hours), 
 
3. the first ultraviolet transit observation of a habitable-zone exoplanet (PI Benneke, HST GO 14454, 10 hours), 
 
4. the first large spectroscopic survey of Neptune to Saturn-mass exoplanets (PI Deming, HST-GO-14260, not discussed in this proposal), and finally, 
 
5. the first detailed comparison of close-in, highly-irradiated giant planets (&ldquo;hot Jupiters&rdquo;) and self-luminous giant planets at wide orbital separations (PI Benneke, 11 nights, Keck observatory). 
 
Together these large spectroscopic surveys will enable several groundbreaking PhD and MSc theses and many high-impact undergraduate student projects in Canada. As the PI of the large HST programs, I will bring most of these extremely valuable HST observations (&gt;$7 million USD in estimated HST operating costs) to Canada. To conquer the tremendous data analysis task, however, I will need to establish a team of graduate students at Universit&eacute; de Montr&eacute;al similar to the 5 graduate students I am currently advising at CalTech. Unfortunately, however, none of the approved $997,000 USD from the three approved STScI grants for the HST data analysis will be available to me in Canada. Here, I request funds for a team of two doctoral students and two Master's student similar to my current team at Caltech that would enable me bring the scientific return of these tremendous programs to Canada., program purpose french : The next five years present a truly unique opportunity in the history of planetary astrophysics. For the first time, we have the observational techniques, the theoretical models, and a sufficient number of known exoplanets orbiting nearby stars to spectroscopically characterize a wide diversity of planets&mdash;ranging from hot giant planets to temperate Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone of their host stars. My group is currently in a unique position to make the next big leaps in this rapidly growing field of exoplanet characterization because I recently developed a novel theoretical modeling technique to interpret spectroscopic observations of exoplanets (Benneke 2016) and I was awarded several unprecedented observational programs using the Hubble Space Telescope (334&nbsp;hours), the Spitzer Space Telescope (217 hours), and the Keck observatories (11&nbsp;nights) to obtain the necessary data for this characterization. Benefitting from this unique starting position, I will establish a research group at Universit&eacute; de Montr&eacute;al that will be among the worldwide leading groups in the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres. Highlights of my near-term work will be: 
 
1. the first comprehensive spectroscopic survey of planets in the intriguing super-Earth regime with planetary masses between Earth and Neptune (PI&nbsp;Benneke, HST GO 13665, 199 hours), 
 
2. the first atmospheric characterizations of planets in the habitable zone of their host stars (PI Benneke, HST GO 14682, 125 hours), 
 
3. the first ultraviolet transit observation of a habitable-zone exoplanet (PI Benneke, HST GO 14454, 10 hours), 
 
4. the first large spectroscopic survey of Neptune to Saturn-mass exoplanets (PI Deming, HST-GO-14260, not discussed in this proposal), and finally, 
 
5. the first detailed comparison of close-in, highly-irradiated giant planets (&ldquo;hot Jupiters&rdquo;) and self-luminous giant planets at wide orbital separations (PI Benneke, 11 nights, Keck observatory). 
 
Together these large spectroscopic surveys will enable several groundbreaking PhD and MSc theses and many high-impact undergraduate student projects in Canada. As the PI of the large HST programs, I will bring most of these extremely valuable HST observations (&gt;$7 million USD in estimated HST operating costs) to Canada. To conquer the tremendous data analysis task, however, I will need to establish a team of graduate students at Universit&eacute; de Montr&eacute;al similar to the 5 graduate students I am currently advising at CalTech. Unfortunately, however, none of the approved $997,000 USD from the three approved STScI grants for the HST data analysis will be available to me in Canada. Here, I request funds for a team of two doctoral students and two Master's student similar to my current team at Caltech that would enable me bring the scientific return of these tremendous programs to Canada., agreement title english : Revealing the Nature, Diversity, and Formation of Super-Earth Exoplanets, agreement title french : Revealing the Nature, Diversity, and Formation of Super-Earth Exoplanets, agreement number : RGPIN, agreement value : 175000.0, agreement start date : 2017-07-12, agreement end date : nan, description english : nan, description french : nan, expected results english : nan, expected results french : nan, additional information english : Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2022-2023)., additional information french : Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier (2017-2018 à 2022-2023)., owner organization : nserc-crsng, owner organization title : Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada | Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada