Related papers: Technosignatures in the Thermal Infrared
The extreme outer Galaxy (EOG), which we define as the region of the Milky Way with a galactocentric radius of more than 18 kpc, provides an excellent opportunity to study star formation in an environment significantly different from that…
The era of exoplanet characterization is upon us. For a subset of exoplanets -- the transiting planets -- physical properties can be measured, including mass, radius, and atmosphere characteristics. Indeed, measuring the atmospheres of a…
Interstellar dust appears in a number of roles in the interstellar medium. Historically, the most familiar one is as a source of extinction in the optical. Absorbed optical and ultraviolet light heats the dust, whence infrared (including…
We quantify the consequences of intergalactic dust produced by the first Type II supernovae in the universe. The fraction of gas converted into stars is calibrated based on the observed C/H ratio in the intergalactic medium at z=3, assuming…
Luminous and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies ((U)LIRGs) are rare today but are increasingly abundant at high redshifts. They are believed to be dusty starbursts, and hence should have high rates of supernovae (multiple events per year).…
The outer regions of globular clusters can enable us to answer many fundamental questions concerning issues ranging from the formation and evolution of clusters and their multiple stellar populations to the study of stars near and beyond…
MIRI (the Mid-Infrared Instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)) operates from 5 to 28.5 microns and combines over this range: 1.) unprecedented sensitivity levels; 2.) sub-arcsec angular resolution; 3.) freedom from atmospheric…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may be capable of finding biogenic gases in the atmospheres of habitable exoplanets around low mass stars. Considerable attention has been given to the detectability of biogenic oxygen, which could be…
A growing avenue for determining the prevalence of life beyond Earth is to search for "technosignatures" from extraterrestrial intelligences/agents. Technosignatures require significant energy to be visible across interstellar space and…
Mid-infrared (MIR) emission from tidal disruption events (TDEs) is a powerful probe of the circumnuclear environment around dormant supermassive black holes. This emission arises from the reprocessing of intrinsic emission into thermal MIR…
Wright et al. 2014 have embarked on a search for advanced Karadashev Type III civilisations via the compilation of a sample of sources with extreme mid-IR emission and colours. In this scenario, the mid-IR emission is then primarily…
The total infrared (TIR) luminosity from galaxies can be used to examine both star formation and dust physics. We provide here new relations to estimate the TIR luminosity from various Spitzer bands, in particular from the 8 micron and 24…
The detection of Earth-like exoplanets in the habitable zone of their stars, and their spectroscopic characterization in a search for biosignatures, requires starlight suppression that exceeds the current best ground-based performance by…
The launch of JWST has ushered in a new era of high precision infrared astronomy, allowing us to probe nearby white dwarfs for cold dust, exoplanets, and tidally heated exomoons. While previous searches for these exoplanets have…
The first opportunity to detect indications for life outside the Solar System may be provided already within the next decade with upcoming missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the European Extremely Large Telescope…
We have entered the era of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We use the first JWST transmission spectrum of the hot Saturn-mass exoplanet, WASP-39 b, obtained with the NIRSpec instrument in the 3-5 $\mu$m range to investigate (a) what…
Atmospheric pollutants such as CFCs and NO$_{2}$ have been proposed as potential remotely detectable atmospheric technosignature gases. Here we investigate the potential for artificial greenhouse gases including CF$_{4}$, C$_{2}$F$_{6}$,…
The first detected member of a new astronomical class is often not representative of the underlying population, but instead reflects the selection effects of the observing technique that found it. We apply this idea to the first remote…
Exoplanet science is one of the most thriving fields of modern astrophysics. A major goal is the atmospheric characterization of dozens of small, terrestrial exoplanets in order to search for signatures in their atmospheres that indicate…
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…