Description
In the search for life in the universe one of the most important tools are biosignatures. Biosignatures are molecules produced by biological processes. Such molecules are detectable in exoplanet atmospheres. On Earth, an example of biosignatures we would see in our atmosphere would be oxygen $(O_2)$, Methane $(CH_4)$ and lastly Dimethyl sulfide (DMS). DMS is a sulfur-containing gas produced by marine biology which is destroyed by multiple factors. Predominantly with reactions of hydroxyl radical $(OH)$ and photochemistry.
DMS is particularly interesting because both observational and theoretical studies have hinted of the possibility of presence of DMS in the atmosphere of the exoplanet K2-18 b. Additionally, on Earth, DMS is one of the biosignatures which has a creation pathway that is dominated by biological processes. Understanding the atmospheric behavior of DMS is therefore important for assessing its detectability as a potential biosignature in exoplanet observations.
Motivated by these findings we developed an atmospheric model to investigate the role of DMS. The atmospheric model combines a 1D self-consistent radiative transfer code (MARCS) with a photochemical solver (KROME) to simulate the chemical and radiative effects of DMS in planetary atmospheres. To validate our findings we will use it by mimicking Earths condition and then the conditions of K2-18 b. To further improve the atmospheric model we want to implement a simple modelling of clouds.
| Field of study | Astrophysics |
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| Supervisor | Uffe Gråe Jørgensen, Thorsten Balduin |