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Paper: Modeling Effects of Stellar UV-Driven Photochemistry on the Transit Spectra of Moist Rocky Atmospheres Around M Dwarfs
Volume: 523, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XXVIII
Page: 467
Authors: Badhan, M. A.; Wolf, E. T.; Kopparapu, R. K.; Arney, G.; Kempton, E. M.; Deming, D.; Domagal-Goldman, S.
Abstract: 3-D climate modeling has shown that tidally-locked terrestrial planets, at the inner habitable zone edge (IHZ) of M dwarf stars with Teff > 3000 K, are able to retain a "moist" atmosphere (i.e. a water vapor rich stratosphere). However, flaring M dwarfs have strong UV activity, which may photodissociate this H2O. Here, we employ a 1-D photochemical model with varied stellar UV, to assess whether H2O loss driven by high stellar UV would affect H2O detectability in JWST transmission spectroscopy. Temperature and water vapor profiles are taken from published 3-D climate model simulations of an IHZ Earth-sized planet around a 3300 K M dwarf with an N2-H2O atmosphere; they serve as self-consistent inputs for the 1-D model. We explore additional chemical complexity within the 1-D model by introducing other atmospheric species. In this paper, we review our methodology, focusing on the 1-D photochemical model.
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