Princeton University/Institute for Advanced Study Planet/Exoplanet Discussion Group

Cool stars (M dwarfs and brown dwarfs) are good targets in searching for small exoplanets in habitable zones. Due to their faintness at optical wavelengths, however, detection and characterization of exoplanets around cool stars, particularly later than mid-M, have been less advanced than the search around solar counterparts. In this context, we have been working on development of a new near IR spectrograph (IRD) that will be installed on Subaru 8.2m telescope and be dedicated to the exoplanet search around cool stars. IRD is a fiber-fed, highly-stabilized spectrograph, and makes use of the laser frequency comb for precise wavelength calibrations. In this talk, I will briefly introduce the IRD project and its current status. I will particularly focus on the expected RV precisions that can be achieved by IRD, and discuss the possible future works using IRD.