Related papers: Optimal Measures for Characterizing Water-rich Sup…
Observations of ultra-hot Jupiters offer an unprecedented opportunity to study the physics of some of the most extreme planetary atmospheres known. With exceedingly high amounts of irradiation blasting their upper atmospheres, ultra-hot…
We investigate at what abundances various hydrocarbon molecules (e.g. acetylene (C$_2$H$_2$), ethylene (C$_2$H$_4$), and methane (CH$_4$)) become detectable when observing the atmospheres of various planets using JWST. We focused on…
Atmospheric retrievals are widely used to constrain exoplanet properties from observed spectra. We investigate how the common nonphysical retrieval assumptions of vertically constant molecule abundances and cloud-free atmospheres affect our…
In the last few years astronomical surveys have expanded the reach of planetary science into the realm of small and dense extrasolar worlds. These share a number of characteristics with the terrestrial and icy planetary objects of the Solar…
Emission spectroscopy is a promising technique to observe atmospheres of rocky exoplanets, probing both their chemistry and thermal profiles. We present HyDRo, an atmospheric retrieval framework for thermal emission spectra of rocky…
This work presents theoretical studies which combine aspects of combustion and explosion theory with exoplanetary atmospheric science. Super Earths could possess a large amount of molecular hydrogen depending on disk, planetary and stellar…
The search for water-rich Earth-sized exoplanets around low-mass stars is rapidly gaining attention because they represent the best opportunity to characterize habitable planets in the near future. Understanding the atmospheres of these…
Recent observations of the extrasolar planet HD 189733b did not reveal the presence of water in the emission spectrum of the planet. Yet models of such 'Hot Jupiter' planets predict an abundance of atmospheric water vapour. Validating and…
We investigate the detectability of atmospheric spectral features of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone (HZ) around M dwarfs with the future James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We use a coupled 1D climate-chemistry-model to simulate…
An important goal within the quest for detecting an Earth-like extrasolar planet, will be to identify atmospheric gaseous bio-signatures. Observations of the light transmitted through the Earth's atmosphere, as for an extrasolar planet,…
We propose a method for observing transiting exoplanets with near-infrared high-resolution spectrometers. We aim to create a robust data analysis method for recovering atmospheric transmission spectra from transiting exoplanets over a wide…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will enable the search for and characterization of terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres in the habitable zone via transmission spectroscopy. However, relatively little work has been done to use solar…
Transiting exoplanets provide detailed access to their atmospheres, as the planet's signal can be effectively separated from that of its host star. For transiting exoplanets three fundamental atmospheric measurements are possible:…
Despite recent progress in the spectroscopic characterization of individual exoplanets, the atmospheres of key ultra-hot Jupiters (UHJs) still lack comprehensive investigations. These include WASP-178b, one of the most irradiated UHJs known…
Super-Earths span a wide range of bulk densities, indicating a diversity in interior conditions beyond that seen in the solar system. In particular, an emerging population of low-density super-Earths may be explained by volatile-rich…
The core accretion theory for giant planet formation predicts enrichment of elemental abundances in planetary envelopes caused by runaway accretion of planetesimals, which is consistent with measured super-solar abundances of C, N, P, S,…
Temperate sub-Neptunes are compelling targets for detecting liquid-water oceans beyond the Solar System. If water-rich and lacking massive hydrogen-helium envelopes, these planets could sustain liquid layers beneath their atmospheres…
Exoplanets with radii between those of Earth and Neptune have stronger surface gravity than Earth, and can retain a sizable hydrogen-dominated atmosphere. In contrast to gas giant planets, we call these planets gas dwarf planets. The James…
The characterization of extrasolar earth-like atmospheres for biosignatures remains one of the most compelling and elusive challenges in astronomy. Coronagraphy, nulling interferometry and free-flying occulters have been advanced as…
A number of transiting, potentially habitable Earth-sized exoplanets have recently been detected around several nearby M dwarf stars. These worlds represent important targets for atmospheric characterization for the upcoming NASA James Webb…