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The population of known low- to intermediate-mass exoplanets shows a large spread in densities, which is believed to be due to the diversity of planetary atmospheres and thus controlled by planetary atmospheric mass loss. One of the main…
The detection of massive planets orbiting nearby stars has become almost routine, but current techniques are as yet unable to detect terrestrial planets with masses comparable to the Earth's. Future space-based observatories to detect…
We study the interaction between the atmospheres of Venus-like, non-magnetized exoplanets orbiting an M-dwarf star, and the stellar wind using a multi-species Magnetohydrodynaic (MHD) model. We focus our investigation on the effect of…
Stellar activity has a particularly strong influence on planets at small orbital distances, such as close-in exoplanets. For such planets, we present two extreme cases of stellar variability, namely stellar coronal mass ejections and…
The relative abundances of carbon and oxygen have long been recognized as fundamental diagnostics of stellar chemical evolution. Now, the growing number of exoplanet observations enable estimation of these elements in exoplanetary…
With the detection of extrasolar moons (exomoons) on the horizon, it is important to consider their potential for habitability. If we consider the circumstellar Habitable Zone (HZ, often described in terms of planet semi-major axis and…
Next-generation space telescopes will allow us to characterize terrestrial exoplanets. To do so effectively it will be crucial to make use of all available data. We investigate which atmospheric properties can, and cannot, be inferred from…
A small percentage of normal stars harbor giant planets that orbit within a few tenths of an astronomical unit. At such distances the potential exists for significant tidal and magnetic field interaction resulting in energy dissipation that…
As the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres proceeds, providing insights into atmospheric chemistry and composition, a key question is how much deeper into the planet we might be able to see from its atmospheric properties alone. For…
We briefly review the various proposed scenarios that may lead to nonthermal radio emissions from exoplanetary systems (planetary magnetospheres, magnetosphere-ionosphere and magnetosphere-satellite coupling, and star-planet interactions),…
Understanding a planet's atmosphere is a necessary condition for understanding not only the planet itself, but also its formation, structure, evolution, and habitability, This puts a premium on obtaining spectra, and developing credible…
The Kepler mission has discovered thousands of exoplanets around various stars with different spectral types (M, K, G, and F) and thus different masses and effective temperatures. Previous studies have shown that the planet occurrence rate,…
Using an idealised climate model incorporating seasonal forcing, we investigate the impact of rotation rate on the abundance of clouds on an Earth-like aquaplanet, and the resulting impacts upon albedo and seasonality. We show that the…
Upcoming missions, including the James Webb Space Telescope, will soon characterize the atmospheres of terrestrial-type exoplanets in habitable zones around cool K- and M-type stars searching for atmospheric biosignatures. Recent…
The orbital regime of a terrestrial planet plays a significant role in shaping its atmospheric dynamics, climate, and hence potential habitability. The orbit is also likely to play a role in shaping the response of a planetary atmosphere to…
A primary goal of exoplanet characterization is to use a planet's current composition to understand how that planet formed. For example, the C/O ratio has long been recognized as carrying important information on the chemistry of volatile…
The efficiency of tidal dissipation provides a zeroth-order link to a planet's physical properties. For super-Earth and sub-Neptune planets in the range $R_{\oplus}\lesssim R_p \lesssim 4 R_{\oplus}$, particularly efficient dissipation…
Mass and radius of planets transiting their host stars are provided by radial velocity and photometric observations. Structural models of solid exoplanet interiors are then constructed by using equations of state for the radial density…
Atmospheric mass loss is thought to have strongly shaped the sample of close-in exoplanets. These atmospheres should be lost isotropically, leading to no net migration on the planetary orbit. However, strong stellar winds can funnel the…
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:…