Related papers: Feasibility study on retrieving exoplanetary cloud…
As a test-bed for future investigations of directly imaged terrestrial exoplanets, we present the recovery of the surface components of the Earth from multi-band diurnal light curves obtained with the EPOXI spacecraft. We find that the…
We present an inverse mapping approach to determining the emission height of the optical photons from pulsars, which is directly constrained by empirical data. The model discussed is for the case of the Crab pulsar. Our method, using the…
The stages before the formation of stars in molecular clouds are poorly understood. Insights can be gained by studying the properties of quiescent clouds, such as their magnetic field structure. The plane-of-the-sky orientation of the field…
A new generation of telescopes with mirror diameters of 20 m or more, called extremely large telescopes (ELTs) has the potential to provide unprecedented imaging and spectroscopy of exo-planetary systems, if the difficulties in achieving…
A main source of bias in transmission spectroscopy of exoplanet atmospheres is magnetic activity of the host star in the form of stellar spots, faculae or flares. However, the fact that main-sequence stars have a chromosphere and a corona,…
Spectroscopy of exoplanetary atmospheres has become a well established method for the characterisation of extrasolar planets. We here present a novel inverse retrieval code for exoplanetary atmospheres. TauRex (Tau Retrieval for Exoplanets)…
The direct observation of cold and temperate planets within 1 to 10 AU would be extremely valuable for uncovering their atmospheric compositions but remains a formidable challenge with current astronomical methods. Ground-based optical…
We have measured the linear polarisation of hard X-ray emission from the Crab in a previously unexplored energy interval, 20-120 keV. The introduction of two new observational parameters, the polarisation fraction and angle stands to…
Although there exists a large sample of known exoplanets, little spectroscopic data exists that can be used to study their global atmospheric properties. This deficiency can be addressed by performing phase-resolved spectroscopy --…
The planetary exospheres are poorly known in their outer parts, since the neutral densities are low compared with the instruments detection capabilities. The exospheric models are thus often the main source of information at such high…
Exoplanets are now being discovered in profusion. However, to understand their character requires spectral models and data. These elements of remote sensing can yield temperatures, compositions, and even weather patterns, but only if…
This chapter reviews the current state of observational and theoretical efforts in the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres, with a focus on developments enabled through the Swiss National Centre for Competence in Research (NCCR)…
Transmission spectroscopy during planetary transits is expected to be a major source of information on the atmospheres of small (approximately Earth-sized) exoplanets in the next two decades. This technique, however, is intrinsically…
Detecting and characterizing the atmospheres of rocky exoplanets has proven to be challenging for JWST. Transit spectroscopy of the TRAPPIST-1 planets has been impacted by the effects of spots and faculae on the host star. Secondary…
One of the promising methods to search for life on extra-solar planets (exoplanets) is to detect life's signatures in their atmospheres. Spectra of exoplanet atmospheres at the modest resolution needed to search for oxygen, carbon dioxide,…
Physical conditions deep within planets and exoplanets have yet to be measured directly, but indirect methods can calculate them. The polytropic models are one possible solution to this problem. In the present paper, we assume that the…
A key to understand exoplanets is characterisation of their host stars. One of the most powerful tools to characterise stellar properties like effective temperature, surface gravity and metallicity, is spectroscopy based on observations of…
The surfaces of neutron stars are sources of strongly polarized soft X rays due to the presence of strong magnetic fields. Radiative transfer mediated by electron scattering and free-free absorption is central to defining local surface…
Salt clouds are predicted to be common on warm exoplanets, but their optical properties are uncertain. The Exoplanet Cloud Ensemble Scattering System (ExCESS), a new apparatus to measure the scattering intensity and degree of linear…
The properties of X-ray radiation from the polar caps predicted by the radio pulsar models depend on the surface chemical composition, magnetic field and star's mass and radius as well as on the cap temperature, size and position. Fitting…