Can Carbon Fractionation Provide Evidence for Aerial Biospheres in the Atmospheres of Temperate Sub-Neptunes?
The search for signs of life on other worlds has largely focused on terrestrial planets. Recent work, however, argues that life could exist in the atmospheres of temperate sub-Neptunes. Here we evaluate the usefulness of carbon dioxide isotopologues as evidence of aerial life. Carbon isotopes are of...
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| Veröffentlicht in: | The Astrophysical journal 2022-05, Vol.930 (1), p.62 |
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| creator | Glidden, Ana Seager, Sara Huang, Jingcheng Petkowski, Janusz J. Ranjan, Sukrit |
| description | The search for signs of life on other worlds has largely focused on terrestrial planets. Recent work, however, argues that life could exist in the atmospheres of temperate sub-Neptunes. Here we evaluate the usefulness of carbon dioxide isotopologues as evidence of aerial life. Carbon isotopes are of particular interest, as metabolic processes preferentially use the lighter
12
C over
13
C. In principle, the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be able to spectrally resolve the
12
C and
13
C isotopologues of CO
2
, but not CO and CH
4
. We simulated observations of CO
2
isotopologues in the H
2
-dominated atmospheres of our nearest ( |
| doi_str_mv | 10.3847/1538-4357/ac625f |
| format | Article |
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12
C over
13
C. In principle, the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be able to spectrally resolve the
12
C and
13
C isotopologues of CO
2
, but not CO and CH
4
. We simulated observations of CO
2
isotopologues in the H
2
-dominated atmospheres of our nearest (<40 pc), temperate (equilibrium temperature of 250–350 K) sub-Neptunes with M-dwarf host stars. We find
13
CO
2
and
12
CO
2
distinguishable if the atmosphere is H
2
dominated with a few percentage points of CO
2
for the most idealized target with an Earth-like composition of the two most abundant isotopologues,
12
CO
2
and
13
CO
2
. With a Neptune-like metallicity of 100× solar and a C/O of 0.55, we are unable to distinguish between
13
CO
2
and
12
CO
2
in the atmospheres of temperate sub-Neptunes. If atmospheric composition largely follows metallicity scaling, the concentration of CO
2
in a H
2
-dominated atmosphere will be too low to distinguish CO
2
isotopologues with JWST. In contrast, at higher metallicities, there will be more CO
2
, but the smaller atmospheric scale height makes the measurement impossible. Carbon dioxide isotopologues are unlikely to be useful biosignature gases for the JWST era. Instead, isotopologue measurements should be used to evaluate formation mechanisms of planets and exosystems.</description><identifier>ISSN: 0004-637X</identifier><identifier>EISSN: 1538-4357</identifier><identifier>DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac625f</identifier><language>eng</language><publisher>Philadelphia: The American Astronomical Society</publisher><subject>Astrobiology ; Astrophysics ; Atmosphere ; Atmospheric composition ; Biosignatures ; Carbon 12 ; Carbon dioxide ; Carbon dioxide concentration ; Carbon isotopes ; Evaluation ; Exoplanet atmospheres ; Fractionation ; Isotopes ; James Webb Space Telescope ; Metal concentrations ; Metallicity ; Mini Neptunes ; Planet formation ; Scale height ; Space telescopes ; Terrestrial environments ; Terrestrial planets</subject><ispartof>The Astrophysical journal, 2022-05, Vol.930 (1), p.62</ispartof><rights>2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.</rights><rights>2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.</rights><lds50>peer_reviewed</lds50><oa>free_for_read</oa><woscitedreferencessubscribed>false</woscitedreferencessubscribed><citedby>FETCH-LOGICAL-c379t-8f4313fef0d8242d93a10d5d2983c3d7d9ae2376e3374c1aed00a335fe9808f03</citedby><cites>FETCH-LOGICAL-c379t-8f4313fef0d8242d93a10d5d2983c3d7d9ae2376e3374c1aed00a335fe9808f03</cites><orcidid>0000-0002-5147-9053 ; 0000-0001-5732-8531 ; 0000-0002-6892-6948 ; 0000-0002-5322-2315 ; 0000-0002-1921-4848</orcidid></display><links><openurl>$$Topenurl_article</openurl><openurlfulltext>$$Topenurlfull_article</openurlfulltext><thumbnail>$$Tsyndetics_thumb_exl</thumbnail><linktopdf>$$Uhttps://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac625f/pdf$$EPDF$$P50$$Giop$$Hfree_for_read</linktopdf><link.rule.ids>314,778,782,862,27911,27912,38877,53854</link.rule.ids></links><search><creatorcontrib>Glidden, Ana</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Seager, Sara</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Huang, Jingcheng</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Petkowski, Janusz J.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Ranjan, Sukrit</creatorcontrib><title>Can Carbon Fractionation Provide Evidence for Aerial Biospheres in the Atmospheres of Temperate Sub-Neptunes?</title><title>The Astrophysical journal</title><addtitle>APJ</addtitle><addtitle>Astrophys. J</addtitle><description>The search for signs of life on other worlds has largely focused on terrestrial planets. Recent work, however, argues that life could exist in the atmospheres of temperate sub-Neptunes. Here we evaluate the usefulness of carbon dioxide isotopologues as evidence of aerial life. Carbon isotopes are of particular interest, as metabolic processes preferentially use the lighter
12
C over
13
C. In principle, the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be able to spectrally resolve the
12
C and
13
C isotopologues of CO
2
, but not CO and CH
4
. We simulated observations of CO
2
isotopologues in the H
2
-dominated atmospheres of our nearest (<40 pc), temperate (equilibrium temperature of 250–350 K) sub-Neptunes with M-dwarf host stars. We find
13
CO
2
and
12
CO
2
distinguishable if the atmosphere is H
2
dominated with a few percentage points of CO
2
for the most idealized target with an Earth-like composition of the two most abundant isotopologues,
12
CO
2
and
13
CO
2
. With a Neptune-like metallicity of 100× solar and a C/O of 0.55, we are unable to distinguish between
13
CO
2
and
12
CO
2
in the atmospheres of temperate sub-Neptunes. If atmospheric composition largely follows metallicity scaling, the concentration of CO
2
in a H
2
-dominated atmosphere will be too low to distinguish CO
2
isotopologues with JWST. In contrast, at higher metallicities, there will be more CO
2
, but the smaller atmospheric scale height makes the measurement impossible. Carbon dioxide isotopologues are unlikely to be useful biosignature gases for the JWST era. Instead, isotopologue measurements should be used to evaluate formation mechanisms of planets and exosystems.</description><subject>Astrobiology</subject><subject>Astrophysics</subject><subject>Atmosphere</subject><subject>Atmospheric composition</subject><subject>Biosignatures</subject><subject>Carbon 12</subject><subject>Carbon dioxide</subject><subject>Carbon dioxide concentration</subject><subject>Carbon isotopes</subject><subject>Evaluation</subject><subject>Exoplanet atmospheres</subject><subject>Fractionation</subject><subject>Isotopes</subject><subject>James Webb Space Telescope</subject><subject>Metal concentrations</subject><subject>Metallicity</subject><subject>Mini Neptunes</subject><subject>Planet formation</subject><subject>Scale height</subject><subject>Space telescopes</subject><subject>Terrestrial environments</subject><subject>Terrestrial planets</subject><issn>0004-637X</issn><issn>1538-4357</issn><fulltext>true</fulltext><rsrctype>article</rsrctype><creationdate>2022</creationdate><recordtype>article</recordtype><sourceid>O3W</sourceid><recordid>eNp1kMFLwzAUxoMoOKd3jwE9WpfmtU1zklk2FUQFJ3gLWfPCOtamJq3gf-_KZF708h7v4_d9Dz5CzmN2DXkiJnEKeZRAKia6zHhqD8hoLx2SEWMsiTIQ78fkJIT1cHIpR6QudEML7ZeuoXOvy65yjR4GffHuszJIZ8NsSqTWeTpFX-kNva1caFfoMdCqod0K6bSr95KzdIF1i153SF_7ZfSEbdc3GG5OyZHVm4BnP3tM3uazRXEfPT7fPRTTx6gEIbsotwnEYNEyk_OEGwk6ZiY1XOZQghFGauQgMgQQSRlrNIxpgNSizFluGYzJxS639e6jx9Cptet9s32peJbKTKZSZFuK7ajSuxA8WtX6qtb-S8VMDaWqoUE1NKh2pW4tlztL5drfTN2ulQSmYpVx1ZoBu_oD-zf1G5xhhUg</recordid><startdate>20220501</startdate><enddate>20220501</enddate><creator>Glidden, Ana</creator><creator>Seager, Sara</creator><creator>Huang, Jingcheng</creator><creator>Petkowski, Janusz J.</creator><creator>Ranjan, Sukrit</creator><general>The American Astronomical Society</general><general>IOP Publishing</general><scope>O3W</scope><scope>TSCCA</scope><scope>AAYXX</scope><scope>CITATION</scope><scope>7TG</scope><scope>8FD</scope><scope>H8D</scope><scope>KL.</scope><scope>L7M</scope><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5147-9053</orcidid><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5732-8531</orcidid><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6892-6948</orcidid><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5322-2315</orcidid><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1921-4848</orcidid></search><sort><creationdate>20220501</creationdate><title>Can Carbon Fractionation Provide Evidence for Aerial Biospheres in the Atmospheres of Temperate Sub-Neptunes?</title><author>Glidden, Ana ; Seager, Sara ; Huang, Jingcheng ; Petkowski, Janusz J. ; Ranjan, Sukrit</author></sort><facets><frbrtype>5</frbrtype><frbrgroupid>cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c379t-8f4313fef0d8242d93a10d5d2983c3d7d9ae2376e3374c1aed00a335fe9808f03</frbrgroupid><rsrctype>articles</rsrctype><prefilter>articles</prefilter><language>eng</language><creationdate>2022</creationdate><topic>Astrobiology</topic><topic>Astrophysics</topic><topic>Atmosphere</topic><topic>Atmospheric composition</topic><topic>Biosignatures</topic><topic>Carbon 12</topic><topic>Carbon dioxide</topic><topic>Carbon dioxide concentration</topic><topic>Carbon isotopes</topic><topic>Evaluation</topic><topic>Exoplanet atmospheres</topic><topic>Fractionation</topic><topic>Isotopes</topic><topic>James Webb Space Telescope</topic><topic>Metal concentrations</topic><topic>Metallicity</topic><topic>Mini Neptunes</topic><topic>Planet formation</topic><topic>Scale height</topic><topic>Space telescopes</topic><topic>Terrestrial environments</topic><topic>Terrestrial planets</topic><toplevel>peer_reviewed</toplevel><toplevel>online_resources</toplevel><creatorcontrib>Glidden, Ana</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Seager, Sara</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Huang, Jingcheng</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Petkowski, Janusz J.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Ranjan, Sukrit</creatorcontrib><collection>IOP Publishing Free Content</collection><collection>IOPscience (Open Access)</collection><collection>CrossRef</collection><collection>Meteorological & Geoastrophysical Abstracts</collection><collection>Technology Research Database</collection><collection>Aerospace Database</collection><collection>Meteorological & Geoastrophysical Abstracts - Academic</collection><collection>Advanced Technologies Database with Aerospace</collection><jtitle>The Astrophysical journal</jtitle></facets><delivery><delcategory>Remote Search Resource</delcategory><fulltext>fulltext</fulltext></delivery><addata><au>Glidden, Ana</au><au>Seager, Sara</au><au>Huang, Jingcheng</au><au>Petkowski, Janusz J.</au><au>Ranjan, Sukrit</au><format>journal</format><genre>article</genre><ristype>JOUR</ristype><atitle>Can Carbon Fractionation Provide Evidence for Aerial Biospheres in the Atmospheres of Temperate Sub-Neptunes?</atitle><jtitle>The Astrophysical journal</jtitle><stitle>APJ</stitle><addtitle>Astrophys. J</addtitle><date>2022-05-01</date><risdate>2022</risdate><volume>930</volume><issue>1</issue><spage>62</spage><pages>62-</pages><issn>0004-637X</issn><eissn>1538-4357</eissn><abstract>The search for signs of life on other worlds has largely focused on terrestrial planets. Recent work, however, argues that life could exist in the atmospheres of temperate sub-Neptunes. Here we evaluate the usefulness of carbon dioxide isotopologues as evidence of aerial life. Carbon isotopes are of particular interest, as metabolic processes preferentially use the lighter
12
C over
13
C. In principle, the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be able to spectrally resolve the
12
C and
13
C isotopologues of CO
2
, but not CO and CH
4
. We simulated observations of CO
2
isotopologues in the H
2
-dominated atmospheres of our nearest (<40 pc), temperate (equilibrium temperature of 250–350 K) sub-Neptunes with M-dwarf host stars. We find
13
CO
2
and
12
CO
2
distinguishable if the atmosphere is H
2
dominated with a few percentage points of CO
2
for the most idealized target with an Earth-like composition of the two most abundant isotopologues,
12
CO
2
and
13
CO
2
. With a Neptune-like metallicity of 100× solar and a C/O of 0.55, we are unable to distinguish between
13
CO
2
and
12
CO
2
in the atmospheres of temperate sub-Neptunes. If atmospheric composition largely follows metallicity scaling, the concentration of CO
2
in a H
2
-dominated atmosphere will be too low to distinguish CO
2
isotopologues with JWST. In contrast, at higher metallicities, there will be more CO
2
, but the smaller atmospheric scale height makes the measurement impossible. Carbon dioxide isotopologues are unlikely to be useful biosignature gases for the JWST era. Instead, isotopologue measurements should be used to evaluate formation mechanisms of planets and exosystems.</abstract><cop>Philadelphia</cop><pub>The American Astronomical Society</pub><doi>10.3847/1538-4357/ac625f</doi><tpages>8</tpages><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5147-9053</orcidid><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5732-8531</orcidid><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6892-6948</orcidid><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5322-2315</orcidid><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1921-4848</orcidid><oa>free_for_read</oa></addata></record> |
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| source | IOP Publishing Free Content; DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals; EZB-FREE-00999 freely available EZB journals; Alma/SFX Local Collection |
| subjects | Astrobiology Astrophysics Atmosphere Atmospheric composition Biosignatures Carbon 12 Carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide concentration Carbon isotopes Evaluation Exoplanet atmospheres Fractionation Isotopes James Webb Space Telescope Metal concentrations Metallicity Mini Neptunes Planet formation Scale height Space telescopes Terrestrial environments Terrestrial planets |
| title | Can Carbon Fractionation Provide Evidence for Aerial Biospheres in the Atmospheres of Temperate Sub-Neptunes? |
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