POLARIMETRY AS AN AID TO THE DETECTION OF EXTRA-SOLAR PLANETS

摘要

At optical and near-infrared wavelengths, planets are largely viewed by the reflection of light from the central star. As this reflected light will be polarised and the central star will, in comparison, have a very small polarisation, it should be possible to increase the detectability of planets through polarimetry. This technique will also provide additional information on the inclination of the planet orbit and on the nature of the reflecting material. In this paper we review the nature of the polarised signal with an emphasis on the close in planets, such as the hot-Jupiters, and describe the development of a polarimeter to make direct detections of such objects.