Detection and characterization of planetary systems
The EXOPA Team is involved in several projects aiming to search and characterize extrasolar planets by using the radial velocity (RV) technique.
Born in 2012, the Global Architecture of Planetary System (GAPS) project was initially focused on the detection of exoplanets around stars with different characteristics by exploiting HARPS-N, the high-resolution spectrograph of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG). In this framework, the EXOPA Team is mainly involved in the search of planets around M-dwarfs in partnership with researchers from Spanish Institutes. This agreement allowed the creation of the HADES collaboration, and the detection of super-Earth systems around this particular class of stars.
Since 2017, the objectives of the GAPS collaboration are devoted to investigate the origin of the observed diversity of the planetary systems. The EXOPA Team is highly involved in all the sub-programs conceived to answer this question. In addition, we are in charge of the management of two of them, the “Young Objects” (characterization of planets around young stars) and “Neptunians” (characterization of transitional planets including some special objects around M dwarfs) sub-programs.
Information on the activities of the EXOPA Team in the “Atmosphere” sub-program of GAPS can be found here.
The EXOPA Team is also involved in the Science Consortium of the ESPRESSO spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope (VLT), installed at the ESO – Paranal observatory in Chile.
Within the ESPRESSO GTO, we participate to the Working Group 1, dedicated to the search of planets around stars with no preliminary indication of their presence, and to the Working Group 3, devoted to the mass measurement of transiting planets with small radii provided by space-based surveys (e.g. the NASA Missions Kepler, K2 and TESS).
Finally, we are also involved in the Working Group 2 for the characterization of the planetary atmosphere (see Atmosphere page).
Periodogram power of the inspected periods as a function of the number of observations. The most significant periods (the reddest ones) at 30.7 d and 13.7 d are clearly visible with a high power for Nobs > 60, as well as the period at 2.65 d with a moderate Scargle power, which increases for Nobs > 80 and the period at 42.5 d whose power increases for Nobs > 110 (2D plot adapted fromA.Mortier – Private Communication).
GAPS site:
https://theglobalarchitectureofplanetarysystems.com/
ESPRESSO site:
https://espresso-science.org/
Team
 |
Laura Affer Researcher Email: laura.affer @inaf.it ORCID: 0000-0001-5600-3778 |
 |
Serena Benatti Researcher Email: serena.benatti @inaf.it ORCID: 0000-0002-4638-3495 |
 |
Alfredo Biagini PhD student Email: alfredo.biagini @inaf.it ORCID: |
 |
Claudia Di Maio Researcher Email: claudia.dimaio @inaf.it ORCID: 0000-0002-8669-1150 |
 |
Antonio Maggio Researcher Email: antonio.maggio @inaf.it ORCID: 0000-0001-5154-6108 |
 |
Jesus Maldonado Researcher Email: jesus.maldonado @inaf.it ORCID: 0000-0002-2218-5689 |
 |
Giusi Micela Head of ExoPa Email: giusi.micela @inaf.it ORCID: 0000-0002-9900-4751 |
 |
Antonino Petralia Researcher Email: antonino.petralia @inaf.it ORCID: 0000-0002-9882-1020 |
 |
Ignazio Pillitteri Researcher Email: ignazio.pillitteri @inaf.it ORCID: 0000-0003-4948-6550 |