Planet Formation Imager (PFI): science vision and key requirements
Creators: name: Kraus, Stefan
name: Monnier, John D.
name: Ireland, Michael J.
name: Duchene, Gaspard
name: Espaillat, Catherine
name: Hoenig, Sebastian
name: Juhasz, Attila
name: Mordasini, Chris
name: Olofsson, Johan
name: Paladini, Claudia
name: Stassun, Keivan
name: Turner, Neal
name: Vasisht, Gautam
name: Harries, Tim J.
name: Bate, Matthew R.
name: Gonzalez, Jean-Francois
name: Matter, Alexis
name: Zhu, Zhaohuan
name: Panic, Olja
name: Regaly, Zsolt
name: Morbidelli, Alessandro
name: Meru, Farzana
name: Wolf, Sebastian
name: Ilee, John
name: Berger, Jean-Philippe
name: Zhao, Ming
name: Kral, Quentin
name: Morlok, Andreas
name: Bonsor, Amy
name: Ciardi, David
name: Kane, Stephen R.
name: Kratter, Kaitlin
name: Laughlin, Greg
name: Pepper, Joshua
name: Raymond, Sean
name: Labadie, Lucas
name: Nelson, Richard P.
name: Weigelt, Gerd
name: Brummelaar, Theo ten
name: Pierens, Arnaud
name: Oudmaijer, Rene
name: Kley, Wilhelm
name: Pope, Benjamin
name: Jensen, Eric L. N.
name: Bayo, Amelia
name: Smith, Michael
name: Boyajian, Tabetha
name: Quiroga-Nunez, Luis Henry
name: Millan-Gabet, Rafael
name: Chiavassa, Andrea
name: Gallenne, Alexandre
name: Reynold, Mark
name: de Wit, Willem-Jan
name: Wittkowski, Markus
name: Millour, Florentin
name: Gandhi, Poshak
name: Almeida, Cristina Ramos
name: Herrero, Almudena Alonso
name: Packham, Chris
name: Kishimoto, Makoto
name: Tristram, Konrad R. W.
name: Pott, Joerg-Uwe
name: Surdej, Jean
name: Buscher, David
name: Haniff, Chris
name: Lacour, Sylvestre
name: Petrov, Romain
name: Ridgway, Steve
name: Tuthill, Peter
name: van Belle, Gerard
name: Armitage, Phil
name: Baruteau, Clement
name: Benisty, Myriam
name: Bitsch, Bertram
name: Paardekooper, Sijme-Jan
name: Pinte, Christophe
name: Masset, Frederic
name: Rosotti, Giovanni P.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The Planet Formation Imager (PFI) project aims to provide a strong scientific vision for ground-based optical astronomy beyond the upcoming generation of Extremely Large Telescopes. We make the case that a breakthrough in angular resolution imaging capabilities is required in order to unravel the processes involved in planet formation. PFI will be optimised to provide a complete census of the protoplanet population at all stellocentric radii and over the age range from 0.1 to about 100 Myr. Within this age period, planetary systems undergo dramatic changes and the final architecture of planetary systems is determined. Our goal is to study the planetary birth on the natural spatial scale where the material is assembled, which is the "Hill Sphere" of the forming planet, and to characterise the protoplanetary cores by measuring their masses and physical properties. Our science working group has investigated the observational characteristics of these young protoplanets as well as the migration mechanisms that might alter the system architecture. We simulated the imprints that the planets leave in the disk and study how PFI could revolutionise areas ranging from exoplanet to extragalactic science. In this contribution we outline the key science drivers of PFI and discuss the requirements that will guide the technology choices, the site selection, and potential science/technology tradeoffs.
description: 13 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of SPIE 2016