Last Call for Life: Habitability of Terrestrial Planets Orbiting Red Giants and White Dwarfs

As a star evolves, the orbital distance where liquid water is possible on the surface of an Earth-like planet, the habitable zone, evolves as well. While stellar properties are relatively stable on the main sequence, post-main sequence evolution of a star involves significant changes in stellar temperature and radius, which is reflected in the changing irradiation at a specific orbital distance when the star becomes a red giant, and then later a white dwarf. To search planets in these systems for signs of life it is essential that we understand how stellar evolution influences atmospheric photochemistry along with detectable biosignatures. We use EXO-Prime, which consists of a 1D coupled climate/photochemistry and a line-by-line radiative transfer code, to model the atmospheres and spectra of habitable zone planets around red giants and white dwarfs, and assess the time dependency of detectable biosignatures.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D., Astronomy and Space Sciences

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctor of Philosophy

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Astronomy and Space Sciences

Grantor

Cornell University

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Kozakis, Thea

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Hayes, Alexander G.
• Lloyd, James
• Stacey, Gordon John

• Astrobiology
• Biosignatures
• Extraterrestrial life
• Habitability
• Stellar Evolution

Statement dc:rights

• Attribution 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7298/4zk8-9661

Dc Identifier Other

ProQuest Submission ID: 12088
ProQuest Publication ID: 28024189

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ecommons.cornell.edu:1813/103045