Exo-zodiacal disk mapper: a space interferometer to detect and map zodiacal disks around nearby stars

Abstract

We propose a concept for a space mission designed to make a survey of potential zodiacal dust disks around nearby stars in the mid-IR. We show that a 10-meter baseline nulling interferometer with two 0.6-meter apertures located in a 1 X 1 AU heliocentric orbit would allow for the survey of about 400 stars in the solar neighborhood and permit a first order determination of the disk inclination and of the dust density and temperature radius dependence. The high dynamic range of the instrument may also be used to study an additional astrophysical phenomena. Beyond its own scientific merit, such a mission would also serve as a technological precursor to a larger interferometer of the type being considered for the detection of earth-like planets.