Simulated Solar Spectra for Testing Stellar Activity Mitigation Strategies

Recent and upcoming stabilized spectrographs are pushing the frontier for  Doppler spectroscopy to detect and characterize low-mass planets.  Specifications for these instruments are so impressive that intrinsic stellar variability is expected to limit their Doppler precision for most target stars  (Fischer et al.  2016).   In order to realize their full potential, astronomers must develop new strategies for distinguishing true  Doppler shifts from intrinsic stellar variability.   Stellar variability due to starspots,  faculae, and other rotationally-linked variability is particularly concerning, as the stellar rotation period is often included in the range of potential planet orbital periods.  In order to robustly detect and accurately characterize low-mass planets via Doppler planet surveys, the exoplanet community must develop statistical models capable of jointly modeling planetary perturbations and intrinsic stellar variability. Towards this effort, we present simulations of extremely high-resolution solar-like spectra created with SOAP 2.0(Dumusque et al. 2014) that includes multiple evolving starspots to aid in developing and testing future statistical methods.