Cover Page/Proposal Summary
ROSS-99 NRA 99-OSS-01
Date Due: 5/3/99
This proposal shall be used and disclosed for evaluation purposes only, and a copy of this Government notice shall be applied to any reproduction or abstract thereof. Any authorized restrictive notices that the submitter places on this proposal shall also be strictly complied with. Disclosure of this proposal for any reason outside the Government evaluation purposes shall be made only to the extent authorized by the Government. |
Proposal Type: New Proposal |
Proposal Category: Atmosphere Structures and Particles |
Major Equipment Proposal? No |
Do you intend to submit an Education/Public Outreach (E/PO) proposal? No |
Proposal Title: |
The Calculation of Molecular Opacities for Brown Dwarf and Extra Solar Giant Planet Atmospheres. |
Abbreviated Proposal Title: |
Opacities for Brown Dwarf and Planet Atmospheres. |
Principal Investigator: |
Dr.
Richard Stuart Freedman (Space Physics Research Institute) MS 245-3 NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000 Phone: 650-604-0316 Fax: 650-604-6779 E-mail: freedman@darkstar.arc.nasa.gov |
Signature | Date |
_____________________________________ | ____________ |
Co-Investigators and Collaborators: | |||
Type | Name | Affiliation | |
Sci Collab | Dr. Mark S. Marley | New Mexico State University | mmarley@nmsu.edu |
Sci Collab | Dr. Didier Saumon | Vanderbilt University | dsaumon@cactus.phy.Vanderbilt.Edu |
Sci Collab | Dr. Adam S. Burrows | University of Arizona | burrows@jupiter.as.arizona.edu |
Sci Collab | Dr. Jonathan I. Lunine | Univerity of Arizona | lunine@lpl.arizona.edu |
Sci Collab | Dr. William B. Hubbard | Univerity of Arizona | hubbard@lpl.arizona.edu |
Sci Collab | Dr. Christopher P. McKay | NASA Ames Research Center | cmckay@mail.arc.nasa.gov |
Proposal Summary:
I plan to produce detailed simulations of the molecular opacity and spectra of brown dwarfs and extra solar giant planets. This data will be used in conjuction with modeling done by my collaborators in order to interpret the observations of these objects that are just now becoming available, and to thus better understand the structure and dynamics of their atmospheres. I also plan to use data from the laboratory and literature to extend the range of the currently available datasets of molecular opacity. These opacities will also be provided in a form suitable for use by modelers of protoplanetary disks and planetary formation, and will cover a range of temperatures from the lowest found in space to the boundary between brown dwarfs and the coolest stars. The proposal will outline the steps that will be taken to create and extend the opacity database, and will discuss the computational techniques that will be developed to facilitate the creation of opacity databases that include tens or even hundreds of millions of lines. These numbers arise because of the large number of lines that begin to appear in species such as water, and other molecules at the high temperatures that occur in the lowest layers of brown dwarfs and, in the atmospheres of giant planets in close orbits around their primaries.