High contrast imaging polarimetry of circumstellar environments

Abstract

The work presented in this thesis is based on the analysis of the results produced by ExPo, the Extreme Polarimeter. ExPo is an imaging polarimeter that has been designed and built by the group of prof. Christoph Keller, at Utrecht University. The purpose of this instrument is to use polarimetry to detect and characterize the circumstellar environments around different types of stars. In this work I focus on the polarized features that are produced by scattering by dust grains. Depending on the properties of the particles producing the scattering (size, shape...) and the scattering angle (forward, backward scattering), the light becomes polarized in higher or lower degree. The main problem when studying circumstellar environments is the high contrast ratios that are faced. For example, a young star is typically four orders of magnitude (10000 times) brighter than its protoplanetary disk. On the other hand, the light emitted by the star is largely unpolarized, while the light that is scattered (by the protoplanetary disk in this example) is polarized. Therefore, polarimetry offers a very elegant way to remove most of the starlight, allowing the detection of only the polarized photons. Furthermore, and as explained before, by studying the polarization of the light that we measure we can learn more about the properties of the circumstellar environments (dust composition, geometry, etc.). ExPo has produced a wealth of data, combining observations of very different targets such as protoplanetary disks, post-AGB stars, comets and planets of our Solar System (Venus and Saturn).