Identifiable acetylene features predicted for young earth-like exoplanets with reducing atmospheres undergoing heavy bombardment

0533094 - FZÚ 2021 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Rimmer, P. B. - Ferus, M. - Waldmann, I. P. - Knížek, A. - Kalvaitis, D. - Ivanek, O. - Kubelík, Petr - Yurchenko, S. N. - Burian, Tomáš - Dostál, Jan - Juha, Libor - Dudžák, R. - Krůs, M. - Tennyson, J. - Civiš, S. - Archibald, A. T. - Granville-Willett, A.
Identifiable acetylene features predicted for young earth-like exoplanets with reducing atmospheres undergoing heavy bombardment.
Astrophysical Journal. Roč. 888, č. 1 (2020), s. 1-12, č. článku 21. ISSN 0004-637X. E-ISSN 1538-4357
R&D Projects: GA ČR GA19-03314S; GA MŠMT LTT17015
EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 654148 - LASERLAB-EUROPE
Institutional support: RVO:68378271
Keywords : exoplanet atmospheres * planetary atmospher phenomena * plasma physics * laboratory astrophysics * molecular spectroscopy
OECD category: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science)
Impact factor: 5.877, year: 2020
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab55e8

The chemical environments of young planets are assumed to be largely influenced by the impacts of bodies lingering on unstable trajectories after the dissolution of the protoplanetary disk. We explore the chemical consequences of impacts within the context of reducing planetary atmospheres dominated by carbon monoxide, methane, and molecular nitrogen. A terawatt high-power laser was selected in order to simulate the airglow plasma and blast wave surrounding the impactor. The impact simulation results in substantial volume mixing ratios within the reactor of 5% hydrogen cyanide, 8% acetylene, 5% cyanoacetylene, and 1% ammonia. These yields are combined with estimated impact rates for the early Earth to predict surface boundary conditions for an atmospheric model. Acetylene is as observable as other molecular features on exoplanets with reducing atmospheres that have recently gone through their own “heavy bombardments,” with prominent features at 3.05 and 10.5 μm.

Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0311582