Quick-MESS: A fast statistical tool for Exoplanet Imaging Surveys

Abstract

Several tools have been developed in the past few years for the statistical analysis of the exoplanet search surveys, mostly using a combination of Monte-Carlo simulations or a Bayesian approach.Here we present the Quick-MESS, a grid-based, non-Monte Carlo tool aimed to perform statistical analyses on results from and help with the planning of direct imaging surveys. Quick-MESS uses the (expected) contrast curves for direct imaging surveys to assess for each target the probability that a planet of a given mass and semi-major axis can be detected. By using a grid-based approach Quick-MESS is typically more than an order of magnitude faster than tools based on Monte-Carlo sampling of the planet distribution. In addition, Quick-MESS is extremely flexible, enabling the study of a large range of parameter space for the mass and semi-major axes distributions without the need of re-simulating the planet distribution. In order to show examples of the capabilities of the Quick-MESS, we present the analysis of the Gemini Deep Planet Survey and the predictions for upcoming surveys with extreme-AO instruments.

keywords: Stars, Extrasolar Planets, Data Analysis and Techniques

References in corpus (6)

• The Gemini Deep Planet Survey -- GDPS
• A New Planet Around an M Dwarf: Revealing a Correlation Between Exoplanets and Stellar Mass
• Direct Imaging and Spectroscopy of a Planetary Mass Candidate Companion to a Young Solar Analog
• Inferring the eccentricity distribution
• The International Deep Planet Survey I. The frequency of wide-orbit massive planets around A-stars
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• SPOTS: The Search for Planets Orbiting Two Stars: II. First constraints on the frequency of sub-stellar companions on wide circumbinary orbits
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• SPOTS: The Search for Planets Orbiting Two Stars. III. Complete Sample and Statistical Analysis
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