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

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

File(s)
Kozakis_cornellgrad_0058F_12088.pdf (2.34 MB)
Permanent Link(s)
https://doi.org/10.7298/4zk8-9661
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/103045
Collections
Cornell Theses and Dissertations
Author
Kozakis, Thea
Abstract

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.

Description
172 pages
Date Issued
2020-08
Keywords
Astrobiology
•
Biosignatures
•
Extraterrestrial life
•
Habitability
•
Stellar Evolution
Committee Chair
Kaltenegger, Lisa
Committee Member
Hayes, Alexander G.
Lloyd, James
Stacey, Gordon John
Degree Discipline
Astronomy and Space Sciences
Degree Name
Ph. D., Astronomy and Space Sciences
Degree Level
Doctor of Philosophy
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International
Rights URI
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Type
dissertation or thesis
Link(s) to Catalog Record
https://catalog.library.cornell.edu/catalog/13277834

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