Publication Abstracts
Young et al. 2024
Young, A., T. Robinson, J. Krissansen-Totton, E.W. Schwieterman, N. Wogan,
, , G. Arney, C. Reinhard, M. Line, D. Catling, and J. Windsor, 2024: Inferring chemical disequilibrium biosignatures for proterozoic Earth-like exoplanets. Nat. Astron., 8, no. 1, 101-110, doi:10.1038/s41550-023-02145-z.Chemical disequilibrium quantified via available free energy has previously been proposed as a potential biosignature. However, work has not linked anticipated observational uncertainties to an ability to infer a life-generated available free energy from remote observations. We pair an atmospheric retrieval tool to a thermodynamics model to assess the detectability of chemical disequilibrium signatures of Earth-like exoplanets, emphasizing the Proterozoic Eon where atmospheric abundances of oxygen-methane disequilibrium pairs may have been relatively high. Order-of-magnitude constraints on disequilibrium energy are achieved with simulated reflected-light observations at higher gas abundances and signal-to-noise ratios (50) while weak constraints are found at moderate SNRs (20-30). Disequilibrium energy inferences are enabled by modest atmospheric temperature constraints encoded in molecular opacities at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. These results have important implications for the development of biosignature search strategies for future direct imaging exoplanet characterization missions.
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BibTeX Citation
@article{yo07000h, author={Young, A. and Robinson, T. and Krissansen-Totton, J. and Schwieterman, E. W. and Wogan, N. and Way, M. and Sohl, L. and Arney, G. and Reinhard, C. and Line, M. and Catling, D. and Windsor, J.}, title={Inferring chemical disequilibrium biosignatures for proterozoic Earth-like exoplanets}, year={2024}, journal={Nature Astronomy}, volume={8}, number={1}, pages={101--110}, doi={10.1038/s41550-023-02145-z}, }
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RIS Citation
TY - JOUR ID - yo07000h AU - Young, A. AU - Robinson, T. AU - Krissansen-Totton, J. AU - Schwieterman, E. W. AU - Wogan, N. AU - Way, M. AU - Sohl, L. AU - Arney, G. AU - Reinhard, C. AU - Line, M. AU - Catling, D. AU - Windsor, J. PY - 2024 TI - Inferring chemical disequilibrium biosignatures for proterozoic Earth-like exoplanets JA - Nat. Astron. JO - Nature Astronomy VL - 8 IS - 1 SP - 101 EP - 110 DO - 10.1038/s41550-023-02145-z ER -
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