Project:	Excalibur: Exoplanet data reduction pipeline for ARIEL/CASE. Data reduction methodoly impact on the transit spectrum using JWST NIRISS and NIRspec datasets. (JPL AO No. 15177)
Disciplines:	Astronomy/Astrophysics, Data Science
Mentor:	Gael Roudier, (JPL), Gael.M.Roudier@jpl.nasa.gov, Phone: (818) 393-7252
Background:	Excalibur is the data reduction pipeline for the ESA/NASA M4 ARIEL/CASE, designed to ingest survey type mission datasets and provide reduced products to the Exoplanet community. With ARIEL/CASE launch date approaching, Excalibur escalates its efforts to not only answer the needs of large datasets (about a thousand targets) in terms of data reduction facility, but to also provide alternative software solutions and performance assessment across key intermediate products. The core structure was stressed tested with HST data and now opens its gate to JWST data, where wavelength coverage is similar to ARIEL/CASE.
Description:	The successful candidate is expected to - familiarize with light curve parameter retrieval and produce the exoplanet spectrum of selected JWST targets using Excalibur data reduction codes - perform code comparison outputs with alternative system parameters, in particular stellar characteristics leading to limb darkening coefficients. - [OPT] assess the influence of the choice of stellar parameters for all selected targets onto the reduced exoplanet spectrum
References:	1. A Temperature Trend for Clouds and Hazes in Exoplanets Atmospheres. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 941, Number 1 2. Identification of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet atmosphere. Nature Volume 614, pages 649-652 (2023) 3. Characterization of an Instrument Model for Exoplanet Transit Spectrum Estimation through Wide-scale Analysis on HST Data. The Astronomical Journal, Volume 163, Number 1 4. A unique hot Jupiter spectral sequence with evidence for compositional diversity. Nature Astronomy 5, 1224-1232 (2021) 5. Detection of Aerosols at Microbar Pressures in an Exoplanet Atmosphere. The Astronomical Journal, Volume 162, Number 3 6. Disequilibrium chemistry in exoplanet atmospheres observed with the Hubble Space Telescope. The Astronomical Journal, Volume 162, Number 2
Student Requirements:	Req: - Major in either Physics, Astronomy/Astrophysics or Computer Science - Familiar with Python Strong Pref: - Previous experience related to exoplanets physics - Previous experience in data analysis
Location / Safety:	Project building and/or room locations: . Student will need special safety training: .
Programs:	This AO can be done under the following programs:   Program    Available To        SURF@JPL    both Caltech and non-Caltech students  Click on a program name for program info and application requirements.