Related papers: Lightning Chemistry on Earth-like Exoplanets
In this paper, we compare the chemistry and the emission spectra of nitrogen-dominated cool, warm, and hot ultra-short-period (USP) super-Earth atmospheres in and out of chemical equilibrium at various surface pressure scenarios ranging…
The relative abundance of deuterium and hydrogen is a potent tracer of planet formation and evolution. Jupiter and Saturn have protosolar atmospheric D/H ratios, a relic of substantial gas accretion from the nebula, while the atmospheres of…
The past twenty years have revealed the diversity of planets that exist in the Universe. It turned out that most of exoplanets are different from the planets of our Solar System and thus, everything about them needs to be explored. Thanks…
Of the many recently discovered worlds orbiting distant stars, very little is yet known of their chemical composition. With the arrival of new transit spectroscopy and direct imaging facilities, the question of molecular detectability as a…
Cross-correlation is a well-tested method for exoplanet characterization. A new, potentially powerful application is the measurement of atmospheric isotope ratios. In particular D/H can give unique insights into a planet's formation and…
Context: Low-mass stars and extrasolar planets have ultra-cool atmospheres where a rich chemistry occurs and clouds form. The increasing amount of spectroscopic observations for extrasolar planets requires self-consistent model atmosphere…
We address disequilibrum abundances of some simple molecules in the atmospheres of solar composition brown dwarfs and self-luminous extrasolar giant planets using a kinetics-based 1D atmospheric chemistry model. Our approach is to use the…
Supernova remnants (SNRs) exert strong influence on the physics and chemistry of the nearby molecular clouds (MCs) through shock waves and the cosmic rays (CRs) they accelerate. To investigate the SNR-cloud interaction in the prototype…
A carbon-to-oxygen ratio (C/O) of around unity is believed to act as a natural separator of water- and methane-dominated spectra when characterizing exoplanet atmospheres. In this paper we quantify the C/O ratios at which this separation…
Simulated exoplanet transmission spectra are critical for planning and interpretation of observations and to explore the sensitivity of spectral features to atmospheric thermochemical processes. We present a publicly available generic model…
Understanding the surface temperature and interior structure of cold-to-temperate sub-Neptunes is critical for assessing their habitability, yet direct observations are challenging. In this study, we investigate the impact of water…
The search for habitable, Earth-like exoplanets faces major observational challenges due to their small size and faint signals. M-dwarf stars offer a promising avenue to detect and study smaller planets, especially sub-Neptunes-among the…
CO is an important component in many N2/CH4 atmospheres including Titan, Triton, and Pluto, and has also been detected in the atmosphere of a number of exoplanets. Numerous experimental simulations have been carried out in the laboratory to…
The critical first step in the search for life on exoplanets over the next decade is to determine whether rocky planets transiting small M-dwarf stars possess atmospheres and, if so, what processes sculpt them over time. Because of its…
The chemical composition of exoplanet host stars is an important factor in understanding the formation and characteristics of their orbiting planets. The best example of this to date is the planet-metallicity correlation. Other proposed…
A major motivation of spectroscopic observations of giant exoplanets is to unveil planet formation processes from atmospheric compositions. Several recent studies suggested that atmospheric nitrogen, like carbon and oxygen, can provide…
The hot Jupiter WASP-12b is a heavily irradiated exoplanet in a short period orbit around a G0-star with twice the metallicity of the Sun. A recent thermochemical equilibrium analysis based on Spitzer and ground-based infrared observations…
Context: The thermal and chemical structures of the upper atmospheres of planets crucially influence losses to space and must be understood to constrain the effects of losses on atmospheric evolution. Aims: We develop a 1D first-principles…
Exoplanets on eccentric orbits experience an incident stellar flux that can be markedly larger at periastron versus apoastron. This variation in instellation can lead to dramatic changes in atmospheric structure in regions of the atmosphere…
Exoplanetary science is on the verge of an unprecedented revolution. The thousands of exoplanets discovered over the past decade have most recently been supplemented by discoveries of potentially habitable planets around nearby low-mass…