Related papers: Modeling Atmospheric Ion Escape from Kepler-1649 b…
The TRAPPIST-1 planets have become prime targets for studying the atmospheric and geophysical properties of planets around M-dwarf stars. To effectively identify their atmospheric composition, we first must understand their geological…
Super-Earths orbiting M-dwarf stars may be the most common habitable planets in the Universe. However, their habitability is threatened by intense irradiation from their host stars, which drives the escape of water to space and can lead to…
A planetary atmosphere is the outer gas layer of a planet. Besides its scientific significance among the first and most accessible planetary layers observed from space, it is closely connected with planetary formation and evolution, surface…
The evolution of exoplanetary atmospheres is strongly influenced by atmospheric escape, particularly for close-in planets. Fractionation during atmospheric loss can preferentially remove lighter elements such as hydrogen, while retaining…
Being able to accurately estimate stellar parameters based on spectral observations is important not only for understanding the stars themselves but it is also vital for the determination of exoplanet parameters. M dwarfs are discussed as…
Short-period exoplanets can have dayside surface temperatures surpassing 2000 K, hot enough to vaporize rock and drive a thermal wind. Small enough planets evaporate completely. We construct a radiative-hydrodynamic model of atmospheric…
Observations indicate that some of the largest Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) have retained volatiles in the gas phase, which implies the presence of an atmosphere that can affect their reflectance spectra and thermal balance. Volatile escape…
Short-period exoplanets potentially lose envelope masses during their evolution because of atmospheric escape caused by the intense XUV radiation from their host stars. We develop a combined model of atmospheric mass loss calculation and…
Data suggest that most rocky exoplanets with orbital period $p$ $<$ 100 d ("hot" rocky exoplanets) formed as gas-rich sub-Neptunes that subsequently lost most of their envelopes, but whether these rocky exoplanets still have atmospheres is…
M-dwarf stars are prime targets for exoplanet searches because of their close proximity and favorable properties for both planet detection and characterization. However, the potential habitability and atmospheric characterization of these…
Among potentially habitable worlds, rocky planets orbiting M dwarfs offer the most favorable prospects for atmospheric characterization, yet their climates may differ substantially from those of Earth analogs. In the tidally locked limit,…
We present a new first-principles analytic approach to interpreting eclipses and phase curves of rocky planets. Observations with JWST have reported nondetections of atmospheres around the majority of hot rocky planets orbiting M dwarfs.…
We report new near ultraviolet HST/STIS observations of atmospheric absorptions during the planetary transit of HD209458b. We detect absorption in atomic magnesium (MgI), while no signal has been detected in the lines of singly ionized…
Climate transitions on exoplanets offer valuable insights into the atmospheric processes governing planetary habitability. Previous pure-steam atmospheric models show a thermal limit in outgoing long-wave radiation, which has been used to…
We present a formalism for a first-order estimation of the magnetosphere radius of exoplanets orbiting stars in the range from 0.08 to 1.3 Mo. With this radius, we estimate the atmospheric surface that is not protected from stellar winds.…
Very massive stars (VMS) dominate the light of young stellar populations and are sources of intense stellar feedback. Their evolution is mainly driven by strong wind mass loss, yet current evolution models make simplistic assumptions on…
Various ``cosmic shorelines" have been proposed to delineate which planets have atmospheres. The fates of individual planet atmospheres may be set by a complex sea of growth and loss processes, driven by unmeasurable environmental factors…
We present an improved estimate of the occurrence rate of small planets orbiting small stars by searching the full four-year Kepler data set for transiting planets using our own planet detection pipeline and conducting transit injection and…
We present statistical results from the Epoch of Giant Planet Migration RV planet search program. This survey was designed to measure the occurrence rate of giant planets interior to the water ice line of young Sun-like stars, compare this…
Here we describe the observations and the resulting constraints on the upper atmosphere (thermosphere and exosphere) of the "Hot-Jupiters". In particular, observations and theoretical modeling of Hot-Jupiter evaporation are described. The…