During the period covered by this project, we will work on three specific tasks that fall under the auspices of the NAI grant that will fund the proposed consortium. These include: (1) doppler…

This is a $332,764.99 cooperative agreement awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Shared Services Center to Yale University, a private non-profit research university. The agreement funds three tasks under the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) grant: 1) Doppler spectroscopy using the Automated Planet Finder (APF) telescope to study exoplanets; 2) Theoretical studies of protostellar disk processes; and 3) Transit timing analyses of multi-planet systems, including the TRAPPIST-1 system. The award does not have a set-aside designation and runs through June 25, 2020. As a leading research institution, Yale University has extensive experience conducting scientific research and analysis under both prime and subcontract federal awards across a range of agencies.

During the period covered by this project, we will work on three specific tasks that fall under the auspices of the NAI grant that will fund the proposed consortium. These include: (1) doppler spectroscopy using the APF telescope. PI laughlin has a long---running collaboration with prof. Steven s. Vogt (ucsc/lick observatory), and DR. R. Paul butler (carnegie DTM). Laughlin will continue to participate in the collection of high---precision (1 m/s) doppler observations of nearby STARS in order to determine the masses, the orbits, he dynamical structure (in the case of multiple---planet systems), and the potential habitability of planets orbiting the APF program STARS. Laughlin will perform orbital fitting and uncertainty modeling, dynamical n---body integrations (and other dynamical calculations), and, where appropriate, hydrodynamical modeling of the insolation---driven meteorological flows on the planets that APF detects. He will also lead the preparation of results for publication in the peer---reviewed literature. (2) theoretical studies of protostellar disk processes. The chemical evolution of protoplanetary disks that are the precursors to planetary systems is a complex, highly nonlinear process. Using consortium funding, laughlin will continue ongoing research into the use of vorticity---preserving hydrodynamical schemes that model the accretion, turbulence, and large---scale non---axisymmetries that characterize protoplanetary disks. (3) transit timing analyses. At yale, postdoctoral fellow DR. Songhu wang will apply state---of---the---art transit timing analyses to determine the masses and orbits of planets that are discovered within near---resonant multiple---transiting systems (discovered both from ground, and from space, using results from the kepler and K2 missions). A special near---term focus of the work (which will fund DR. Wang s participation) concerns acquisition of transit data for the trappist---1 multiple--- planet system (data to be obtained during a 10---night observing run in summer 2017 at palomar obseratory).