Presentation 1 : Invited
The GENIE nulling experiment
O. Absil, Ph. Gondoin, R. den Hartog, C. Erd, M. Fridlund, N. Rando
Within the frame of the Darwin program, the European Space Agency and the
European Southern Observatory (ESO) intend to build a ground-based
technology demonstrator called Darwin-GENIE, using the Very Large Telescope
Interferometer (VLTI). The main objective of GENIE is to gain experience in
the manufacture and operation of a nulling interferometer representative of
the ESA IRSI-Darwin space mission. GENIE will prepare the Darwin science
programme through a systematic search for exo-zodiacal dust clouds around
Darwin candidate targets. GENIE also aims to perform Darwin related science
including the detection of low-mass companions (if possible, hot Jupiters)
around nearby stars. The prospective performances of some candidate
configurations are presented in this paper.