Terahertz Correlation Receiver for the Detection of Water in Planet Forming Disks (Trex)

1.1 Proposal Summary • What important science is addressed by this proposal? Understanding the life-cycle of water during planet formation, from dust particles to oceans such as on Earth, remains a missing link in our understanding of habitable planets and conditions that lead to their creation. State-of-the-art chemo-dynamical models of the prestellar core evolution that include water ice and cosmic ray-induced production of water vapor predict a large spread in the total mass of water vapor. The spread in these estimates is not only due to the individual variation between cores related to their environment, but also to the very limited knowledge about this part of the water trail. Our under¬standing of the physical processes controlling the water abundance has not been quantitatively tested because of the absence of high-quality observations; hence, the relative fractions of water vapor and ice in the inner regions of cores remain very poorly known. The 2020 Astronomy Decadal Survey emphasizes “More sensitive observations of planet forming disks to understand the astrochemistry, dynamics, and role of water in the formation of habitable planets through radio, mm, and FIR spectroscopy help advance this field” and “Spectra at FIR wavelengths would provide a unique and revolutionary census of water within these disks, which is the key to understand giant planet formation and the distribution of water among terrestrial planets”, underscoring the high impact nature of the proposed investigation. The proposed investigation will address this shortcoming by developing superconducting detectors that are quantum limited in sensitivity and can provide simultaneous measurements of ortho-water, para-water, HDO. The novel spectrometer will not only provide quantitative information on the ground state transitions but also be able to measure several critical excited state transitions providing quantitative insight into the chemical and dynamical processes responsible for accretion of water in the planet forming disks. What measurement technique will be used? Submillimeter heterodyne spectroscopy has proven to be an incredibly powerful technique in determining local chemical, physical and dynamical processes remotely. Of particular interest is the fractionation of the water isotopes including higher state transitions. The enrichment or depletion of rare isotopes relative to the main isotope provides critical insight into the evolution of a planetary body. What detector technology will be developed? An accurate and definitive measurement of water’s lifecycle requires determining the water abundance and the abundance of the HDO isotope. Water is particularly challenging due to the ortho and para spins states that result in effectively two distinct classes of molecules, which can each be probed but that remain distinct with a negligible probability for a molecule to transition from one class to the other under any of the processes present in the coma, such as molecular or electronic collisions. Outstanding detector sensitivity is required as the abundance of rare isotopologues can be as little as 1/10,000 of the main isotopologues. Building on our recently demonstrated niobium (Nb) based Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor (SIS) mixers with near quantum-limited sensitivity to ~600 GHz we propose to develop SIS mixers for higher critical temperature (Tc) materials such as NbTiN which will allow us to fabricate receivers above 700 GHz to probe higher energy transitions in the water and HDO molecule. Will this technology development effort lead to a NASA mission? Yes. The proposed cryogenic detector system provides the sensitivity required to measure water in planet forming disks with exquisite sensitivity. Trail of water remains a critical science theme stressed by the 2020 Astronomical Decadal Survey making the prospect of a NASA mission highly probable based on this technology development.

The Astrophysics Research and Analysis program (APRA) supports suborbital and suborbital-class investigations, development of detectors and supporting technology, laboratory astrophysics, and limited ground-based observing. Basic research proposals in these areas are solicited for investigations that are relevant to NASA's programs in astronomy and astrophysics, including the entire range of photons, gravitational waves, and particle astrophysics. The emphasis of this solicitation is on technologies and investigations that advance NASA astrophysics missions and goals.

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