The contribution of the major planet search surveys to EChO target selection

Abstract

The EChO core science will be based on a three tier survey, each with increasing sensitivity, in order to study the population of exo-planets from superEarths to Jupiter-like planets, in the very hot to temperate zones (temperatures of 300 K - 3000 K) of F to M-type host stars. To achieve a meaningful outcome, an accurate selection of the target sample is needed. In this paper we analyse the targets, suitable for EChO observations, expected to result from a sample of present and forthcoming detection surveys. Present day discovered exoplanets are sufficient to provide a large and diverse sample. However we expect that results from ongoing and planned surveys, aimed at identifying new planets, will increase the sample of smaller planets allowing us to optimize the EChO sample selection. The analysis of the expected yields of a representative set of those surveys both from ground and space shows that they will be able to provide a large number of targets, covering an ample range of planetary and stellar parameters, fitting the EChO capabilities.