Designing custom medium resolution observing modes to trace planet accretion with SCALES

Abstract

The Slicer Combined with Array of Lenslets for Exoplanet Spectroscopy (SCALES) is an under-construction thermal infrared high-contrast integral field spectrograph that will be located at the W. M. Keck Observatory. SCALES will detect and characterize planets that are currently inaccessible to detailed study by operating at thermal (2–5 µm) wavelengths and leveraging integral-field spectroscopy to readily distinguish exoplanet radiation from residual starlight. SCALES’ wavelength coverage and medium-spectral-resolution (R ∼ 4,000) modes will also enable investigations of planet accretion processes. We explore the scientific requirements of additional custom gratings and filters for incorporation into SCALES that will optimally probe tracers of accretion in forming planets. We use ray-traced hydrogen emission line profiles (i.e., Brγ, Brα) and the SCALES end to-end simulator, scalessim, to generate grids of high-fidelity mock datasets of accreting planetary systems with varying characteristics (e.g., Teff, planet mass, planet radius, mass accretion rate). In this proceeding, we describe potential specialized modes that best differentiate accretion properties and geometries from the simulated observations.