Performance Verification of the EXtreme PREcision Spectrograph

Abstract

The EXtreme PREcision Spectrograph (EXPRES) is a new Doppler spectrograph designed to reach a radial velocity measurement precision sufficient to detect Earth-like exoplanets orbiting nearby, bright stars. We report on extensive laboratory testing and on-sky observations to quantitatively assess the instrumental radial velocity measurement precision of EXPRES, with a focused discussion of individual terms in the instrument error budget. We find that EXPRES can reach a single-measurement instrument calibration precision better than 10 cm/s, not including photon noise from stellar observations. We also report on the performance of the various environmental, mechanical, and optical subsystems of EXPRES, assessing any contributions to radial velocity error. For atmospheric and telescope related effects, this includes the fast tip-tilt guiding system, atmospheric dispersion compensation, and the chromatic exposure meter. For instrument calibration, this includes the laser frequency comb (LFC), flat-field light source, CCD detector, and effects in the optical fibers. Modal noise is mitigated to a negligible level via a chaotic fiber agitator, which is especially important for wavelength calibration with the LFC. Regarding detector effects, we empirically assess the impact on radial velocity precision due to pixel-position non-uniformities (PPNU) and charge transfer inefficiency (CTI). EXPRES has begun its science survey to discover exoplanets orbiting G-dwarf and K-dwarf stars, in addition to transit spectroscopy and measurements of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect.

39 pages, 30 figures, accepted to AJ

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• The EXPRES Stellar Signals Project II. State of the Field in Disentangling Photospheric Velocities
• 2023 Astrophotonics Roadmap: pathways to realizing multi-functional integrated astrophotonic instruments
• Efficient modeling of correlated noise. III. Scalable methods for jointly modeling several observables' time series with Gaussian processes
• EXPRES I. HD~3651 an Ideal RV Benchmark
• Detection Limits of Low-mass, Long-period Exoplanets Using Gaussian Processes Applied to HARPS-N Solar RVs
• Photometry as a proxy for stellar activity in radial velocity analyses
• A HARPS-N mass for the elusive Kepler-37d: a case study in disentangling stellar activity and planetary signals
• Characterization of the ESPRESSO Line-Spread Function and Improvement of the Wavelength Calibration Accuracy
• EXPRES. III. Revealing the Stellar Activity Radial Velocity Signature of $\epsilon$ Eridani with Photometry and Interferometry
• Stable fiber-illumination for extremely precise radial velocities with NEID
• Spatially resolved spectroscopy across stellar surfaces. V. Observational prospects: Toward Earth-like exoplanet detection
• Excalibur: A Non-Parametric, Hierarchical Wavelength-Calibration Method for a Precision Spectrograph
• Fishing for Planets: A Comparative Analysis of EPRV Survey Performance in the Presence of Correlated Noise
• Simulations for Planning Next-Generation Exoplanet Radial Velocity Surveys
• EXPRES IV: Two Additional Planets Orbiting $\rho$ Coronae Borealis Reveal Uncommon System Architecture
• Multi-Mask Least-Squares Deconvolution: Extracting RVs using tailored masks
• Spectral Line Depth Variability in Radial Velocity Spectra
• EXPRES. II. Searching for Planets Around Active Stars: A Case Study of HD 101501
• Measured Spin-Orbit Alignment of Ultra-Short Period Super-Earth 55 Cancri e
• Detection of p-mode Oscillations in HD 35833 with NEID and TESS
• Planet Hunters TESS III: two transiting planets around the bright G dwarf HD 152843
• GRASS II: Simulations of Potential Granulation Noise Mitigation Methods
• Instrumentation prospects for rocky exoplanet atmospheres studies with high resolution spectroscopy
• Solar Photospheric Spectrum Microvariability I. Theoretical searches for proxies of radial-velocity jittering
• ExoplANNET: A deep learning algorithm to detect and identify planetary signals in radial velocity data
• Towards 10 cm/s radial velocity accuracy on the Sun using a Fourier transform spectrometer
• Using Doppler Imaging to model stellar activity and search for planets around Sun-like stars
• Seeing-limited Coupling of Starlight into Single-mode Fiber with a Small Telescope
• Real-time exposure control and instrument operation with the NEID spectrograph GUI
• Densified pupil spectrograph as high-precision radial velocimetry: From direct measurement of the Universe's expansion history to characterization of nearby habitable planet candidates
• Automated Scheduling of Doppler Exoplanet Observations at Keck Observatory
• A Hermite-Gaussian Based Radial Velocity Estimation Method
• SPORES-HWO. II. Companion Mass Limits and Updated Planet Properties for 120 Future Exoplanet Imaging Targets from 35 yr of Precise Doppler Monitoring
• Revisiting $\epsilon$ Eridani with NEID: Identifying New Activity-Sensitive Lines in a Young K Dwarf Star
• Review of detector requirements: some challenges for the present
• Confirmation of Fe I on MASCARA-5 b's Dayside Observed With EXPRES
• TOI-1518b: A Misaligned Ultra-hot Jupiter with Iron in its Atmosphere
• Towards understanding stellar variability at the sub m/s level: granulation-induced variability across the optical spectrum
• Solar photospheric spectrum microvariability III. Radial velocities and line profiles in magnetic active-region granulation
• Exposure-averaged Gaussian Processes for Combining Overlapping Datasets