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EP: Fachverband Extraterrestrische Physik
EP 4: Planetary atmospheres
EP 4.2: Talk
Tuesday, March 21, 2023, 18:15–18:30, ZEU/0160
Investigation of the Influence of Stellar Particle Events and Galactic Cosmic Rays on the Atmosphere of TRAPPIST-1e — •Andreas Bartenschlager1, Miriam Sinnhuber1, John Lee Grenfell2, Benjamin Taysum2, Fabian Wunderlich2, and Konstantin Herbst3 — 1Karlsruher Institute of Technology, Germany — 2German Aerospace Center, Berlin, Germany — 3University of Kiel, Germany
The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in December 2021 opens up the possibility of studying the composition of exoplanetary atmospheres in habitable zones in the near future. We investigate the influence of stellar energetic particles (SEPs) on the atmospheric chemistry of exoplanets around a very active M-star TRAPPIST-1, using the ion chemistry model ExoTIC. We perform model experiments with different N2 or CO2 dominated atmospheres, depending on the initial CO2 partial pressure, as well as humid and dry conditions, taking into account the ionization rates for such events. A further specification is the distinction between dead and alive atmospheres, whose atmospheric composition is characterized by a lower or higher oxygen fraction in the initial conditions. Within ExoTIC we calculate the impact of the ionization events on these atmospheres both as a single and as a series of events with different strengths. Preliminary results show a significant impact of SEP events on the chemical composition of the atmosphere, including biosignatures such as O3. The strength of these impacts depends on the starting atmospheres’ relative oxygen, nitrogen and water vapour content.