ترغب بنشر مسار تعليمي؟ اضغط هنا

A Flexible Bayesian Framework for Assessing Habitability with Joint Observational and Model Constraints

92   0   0.0 ( 0 )
 نشر من قبل Amanda Truitt
 تاريخ النشر 2019
  مجال البحث فيزياء
والبحث باللغة English




اسأل ChatGPT حول البحث

The catalog of stellar evolution tracks discussed in our previous work is meant to help characterize exoplanet host-stars of interest for follow-up observations with future missions like JWST. However, the utility of the catalog has been predicated on the assumption that we would precisely know the age of the particular host-star in question; in reality, it is unlikely that we will be able to accurately estimate the age of a given system. Stellar age is relatively straightforward to calculate for stellar clusters, but it is difficult to accurately measure the age of an individual star to high precision. Unfortunately, this is the kind of information we should consider as we attempt to constrain the long-term habitability potential of a given planetary system of interest. This is ultimately why we must rely on predictions of accurate stellar evolution models, as well a consideration of what we can observably measure (stellar mass, composition, orbital radius of an exoplanet) in order to create a statistical framework wherein we can identify the best candidate systems for follow-up characterization. In this paper we discuss a statistical approach to constrain long-term planetary habitability by evaluating the likelihood that at a given time of observation, a star would have a planet in the 2 Gy continuously habitable zone (CHZ2). Additionally, we will discuss how we can use existing observational data (i.e. data assembled in the Hypatia catalog and the Kepler exoplanet host star database) for a robust comparison to the catalog of theoretical stellar models.



قيم البحث

اقرأ أيضاً

The nearby ultracool dwarf TRAPPIST-1 possesses several Earth-sized terrestrial planets, three of which have equilibrium temperatures that may support liquid surface water, making it a compelling target for exoplanet characterization. TRAPPIST-1 is a n active star with frequent flaring, with implications for the habitability of its planets. Superflares (stellar flares whose energy exceeds 10^33 erg) can completely destroy the atmospheres of a cool stars planets, allowing ultraviolet radiation and high-energy particles to bombard their surfaces. However, ultracool dwarfs emit little ultraviolet flux when quiescent, raising the possibility of frequent flares being necessary for prebiotic chemistry that requires ultraviolet light. We combine Evryscope and Kepler observations to characterize the high-energy flare rate of TRAPPIST-1. The Evryscope is an array of 22 small telescopes imaging the entire Southern sky in g every two minutes. Evryscope observations, spanning 170 nights over 2 years, complement the 80-day continuous short-cadence K2 observations by sampling TRAPPIST-1s long-term flare activity. We update TRAPPIST-1s superflare rate, finding a cumulative rate of 4.2 (+1.9 -0.2) superflares per year. We calculate the flare rate necessary to deplete ozone in the habitable-zone planets atmospheres, and find that TRAPPIST-1s flare rate is insufficient to deplete ozone if present on its planets. In addition, we calculate the flare rate needed to provide enough ultraviolet flux to power prebiotic chemistry. We find TRAPPIST-1s flare rate is likely insufficient to catalyze some of the Earthlike chemical pathways thought to lead to RNA synthesis, and flux due to flares in the biologically relevant UV-B band is orders of magnitude less for any TRAPPIST-1 planet than has been experienced by Earth at any time in its history.
174 - M. Guedel , R. Dvorak , N. Erkaev 2014
With the discovery of hundreds of exoplanets and a potentially huge number of Earth-like planets waiting to be discovered, the conditions for their habitability have become a focal point in exoplanetary research. The classical picture of habitable zo nes primarily relies on the stellar flux allowing liquid water to exist on the surface of an Earth-like planet with a suitable atmosphere. However, numerous further stellar and planetary properties constrain habitability. Apart from geophysical processes depending on the internal structure and composition of a planet, a complex array of astrophysical factors additionally determine habitability. Among these, variable stellar UV, EUV, and X-ray radiation, stellar and interplanetary magnetic fields, ionized winds, and energetic particles control the constitution of upper planetary atmospheres and their physical and chemical evolution. Short- and long-term stellar variability necessitates full time-dependent studies to understand planetary habitability at any point in time. Furthermore, dynamical effects in planetary systems and transport of water to Earth-like planets set fundamentally important constraints. We will review these astrophysical conditions for habitability under the crucial aspects of the long-term evolution of stellar properties, the consequent extreme conditions in the early evolutionary phase of planetary systems, and the important interplay between properties of the host star and its planets.
The habitable zone (HZ) describes the range of orbital distances around a star where the existence of liquid water on the surface of an Earth-like planet is in principle possible. While 3D climate studies can calculate the water vapor, ice albedo, an d cloud feedback self-consistently and therefore allow for a deeper understanding and the identification of relevant climate processes, 1D model studies rely on fewer model assumptions and can be more easily applied to the large parameter space possible for exoplanets. We evaluate the applicability of 1D climate models to estimate the potential habitability of Earth-like exoplanets by comparing our 1D model results to those of 3D climate studies in the literature. We applied a cloud-free 1D radiative-convective climate model to calculate the climate of Earth-like planets around different types of main-sequence stars with varying surface albedo and relative humidity profile. These parameters depend on climate feedbacks that are not treated self-consistently in most 1D models. We compared the results to those of 3D model calculations in the literature and investigated to what extent the 1D model can approximate the surface temperatures calculated by the 3D models. The 1D parameter study results in a large range of climates possible for an Earth-sized planet with an Earth-like atmosphere and water reservoir at a certain stellar insolation. At some stellar insolations the full spectrum of climate states could be realized, i.e., uninhabitable conditions as well as habitable surface conditions, depending only on the relative humidity and surface albedo assumed. When treating the surface albedo and the relative humidity profile as parameters in 1D model studies and using the habitability constraints found by recent 3D modeling studies, the same conclusions about the potential habitability of a planet can be drawn as from 3D model calculations.
Dozens of habitable zone, approximately earth-sized exoplanets are known today. An emerging frontier of exoplanet studies is identifying which of these habitable zone, small planets are actually habitable (have all necessary conditions for life) and, of those, which are earth-like. Many parameters and processes influence habitability, ranging from the orbit through detailed composition including volatiles and organics, to the presence of geological activity and plate tectonics. While some properties will soon be directly observable, others cannot be probed by remote sensing for the foreseeable future. Thus, statistical understanding of planetary systems formation and evolution is a key supplement to the direct measurements of planet properties. Probabilistically assessing parameters we cannot directly measure is essential to reliably assess habitability, to prioritizing habitable-zone planets for follow-up, and for interpreting possible biosignatures.
114 - Rada Chirkova , Jon Doyle , 2017
Assessing and improving the quality of data are fundamental challenges for data-intensive systems that have given rise to applications targeting transformation and cleaning of data. However, while schema design, data cleaning, and data migration are now reasonably well understood in isolation, not much attention has been given to the interplay between the tools addressing issues in these areas. We focus on the problem of determining whether the available data-processing procedures can be used together to bring about the desired quality of the given data. For instance, consider an organization introducing new data-analysis tasks. Depending on the tasks, it may be a priority to determine whether the data can be processed and transformed using the available data-processing tools to satisfy certain properties or quality assurances needed for the success of the task. Here, while the organization may control some of its tools, some other tools may be external or proprietary, with only basic information available on how they process data. The problem is then, how to decide which tools to apply, and in which order, to make the data ready for the new tasks? Toward addressing this problem, we develop a new framework that abstracts data-processing tools as black-box procedures with only some of the properties exposed, such as the applicability requirements, the parts of the data that the procedure modifies, and the conditions that the data satisfy once the procedure has been applied. We show how common tasks such as data cleaning and data migration are encapsulated into our framework and, as a proof of concept, we study basic properties of the framework for the case of procedures described by standard relational constraints. While reasoning in this framework may be computationally infeasible in general, we show that there exist well-behaved special cases with potential practical applications.
التعليقات
جاري جلب التعليقات جاري جلب التعليقات
سجل دخول لتتمكن من متابعة معايير البحث التي قمت باختيارها
mircosoft-partner

هل ترغب بارسال اشعارات عن اخر التحديثات في شمرا-اكاديميا