Project 8

Over the past two decades, there has been a major increase in the number of detected exoplanets. A major area of research regarding these exoplanets is characterizing their habitability to determine if they may be suitable for hosting life. Recently, our team developed a novel method for estimating the possible biological evolutionary stage on exoplanets based on the hypothesis that the biological evolutionary rate is a linear function of cumulative carbon fixed (photosynthesis) on an entire planet. This method was used to characterize a sample of planets in the Solar Neighborhood to determine which planets may be more or less habitable than the Earth. This project will examine reducing the uncertainties in these prior work, expand the sample of exoplanets that are characterized, and use the output of advanced climate simulations to produce more accurate models of habitability.

The project will primarily involve updating simple models of the habitability of exoplanets. The following tasks will be expected of the student hired onto the project: -Writing computer programs so that our models can be updated with new parameters. -Reading scientific papers. -Presenting updates to the team and collaborators. The student hired to work on the project could have a background in any STEM discipline and the student does not need to be an expert computer programmer. The student will be expected to work roughly 10 hours/week. The amount of remote work is negotiable and will depend on the hired student’s interests and skill set.

The outcome of the work will be detailed models of the habitability of exoplanets as a function of photosynthesis. The results will be presented by the student at the NASA Space Grant Consortium Symposium, UGRADS at NAU, and potentially other venues of dissemination in Flagstaff (e.g., the Flagstaff Astronomy Symposium). The results of the work will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.