Ranges of Atmospheric Mass and Composition of Super Earth Exoplanets

Terrestrial-like exoplanets may obtain atmospheres from three primary sources: Capture of nebular gases, degassing during accretion, and degassing from subsequent tectonic activity. Here we model degassing during accretion to estimate the range of atmospheric mass and composition on exoplanets ranging from 1 to 30 Earth masses. We use bulk compositions drawn from primitive and differentiated meteorite compositions. Degassing alone can create a wide range of masses of planetary atmospheres, ranging from less than a percent of the planet's total mass up to ~6 mass% of hydrogen, ~20 mass% of water, and/or ~5 mass% of carbon compounds. Hydrogen-rich atmospheres can be outgassed as a result of oxidizing metallic iron with water, and excess water and carbon can produce atmospheres through simple degassing. As a byproduct of our atmospheric outgassing models we find that modest initial water contents (10 mass% of the planet and above) create planets with deep surface liquid water oceans soon after accretion is complete.Comment: ApJ, in press. 32 pages, 6 figure

Coreless Terrestrial Exoplanets

Differentiation in terrestrial planets is expected to include the formation of a metallic iron core. We predict the existence of terrestrial planets that have differentiated but have no metallic core--planets that are effectively a giant silicate mantle. We discuss two paths to forming a coreless terrestrial planet, whereby the oxidation state during planetary accretion and solidification will determine the size or existence of any metallic core. Under this hypothesis, any metallic iron in the bulk accreting material is oxidized by water, binding the iron in the form of iron oxide into the silicate minerals of the planetary mantle. The existence of such silicate planets has consequences for interpreting the compositions and interior density structures of exoplanets based on their mass and radius measurements.Comment: ApJ, in press. 22 pages, 5 figure

Martian Igneous Geochemistry: The Nature of the Martian Mantle

Mafic igneous rocks probe the interiors of their parent objects, reflecting the compositions and mineralogies of their source regions, and the magmatic processes that engendered them. Incompatible trace element contents of mafic igneous rocks are widely used to constrain the petrologic evolution of planets. We focus on incompatible element ratios of martian meteorites to constrain the petrologic evolution of Mars in the context of magma ocean/cumulate overturn models [1]. Most martian meteorites contain some cumulus grains, but regardless, their incompatible element ratios are close to those of their parent magmas. Martian meteorites form two main petrologic/ age groupings; a 1.3 Ga group composed of clinopyroxenites (nakhlites) and dunites (chassignites), and a <1 Ga group composed of basalts and lherzolites (shergottites)

A Self-Consistent Model of the Circumstellar Debris Created by a Giant Hypervelocity Impact in the HD172555 System

Spectral modeling of the large infrared excess in the Spitzer IRS spectra of HD 172555 suggests that there is more than 10^19 kg of sub-micron dust in the system. Using physical arguments and constraints from observations, we rule out the possibility of the infrared excess being created by a magma ocean planet or a circumplanetary disk or torus. We show that the infrared excess is consistent with a circumstellar debris disk or torus, located at approximately 6 AU, that was created by a planetary scale hypervelocity impact. We find that radiation pressure should remove submicron dust from the debris disk in less than one year. However, the system's mid-infrared photometric flux, dominated by submicron grains, has been stable within 4 percent over the last 27 years, from IRAS (1983) to WISE (2010). Our new spectral modeling work and calculations of the radiation pressure on fine dust in HD 172555 provide a self-consistent explanation for this apparent contradiction. We also explore the unconfirmed claim that 10^47 molecules of SiO vapor are needed to explain an emission feature at 8 um in the Spitzer IRS spectrum of HD 172555. We find that unless there are 10^48 atoms or 0.05 Earth masses of atomic Si and O vapor in the system, SiO vapor should be destroyed by photo-dissociation in less than 0.2 years. We argue that a second plausible explanation for the 8 um feature can be emission from solid SiO, which naturally occurs in submicron silicate "smokes" created by quickly condensing vaporized silicate.Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journa

Preparing Students to Work in Diverse Settings and Across Distance: Inter-University, Interdisciplinary Capstone Teams

NASA's Psyche Mission is engaged with a growing number of capstone teams pursuing topics relevant to the mission, including partnering with four universities to trial cross-university teaming. Creating interdisciplinary capstone teams with students from different universities provides an opportunity to prepare students to engage with a diversity of disciplines and collaborate in remote teams in the workplace. Additionally, through such capstones, universities may gain access to non-local, specialized technical mentors and to disciplines not offered at their institutions. An added benefit is providing greater fidelity to NASA space missions, which involve teams working together at a distance. We discuss early lessons learned from the first three inter-university, interdisciplinary capstone teams participating with the Psyche mission and discuss plans for improvement and future expansion

The role of pyroxenite in basalt genesis: Melt-PX, a melting parameterization for mantle pyroxenites between 0.9 and 5GPa

Geochemical and isotopic data suggest that the source regions of oceanic basalts may contain pyroxenite in addition to peridotite. In order to incorporate the wide range of compositions and melting behaviors of pyroxenites into mantle melting models, we have developed a new parameterization, Melt-PX, which predicts near-solidus temperatures and extents of melting as a function of temperature and pressure for mantle pyroxenites. We used 183 high-pressure experiments (25 compositions; 0.9–5 GPa; 1150–1675°C) to constrain a model of melt fraction versus temperature from 5% melting up to the disappearance of clinopyroxene for pyroxenites as a function of pressure, temperature, and bulk composition. When applied to the global set of experimental data, our model reproduces the experimental F values with a standard error of estimate of 13% absolute; temperatures at which the pyroxenite is 5% molten are reproduced with a standard error of estimate of 30°C over a temperature range of ~500°C and a pressure range of ~4 GPa. In conjunction with parameterizations of peridotite melting, Melt-PX can be used to model the partial melting of multilithologic mantle sources—including the effects of varying the composition and the modal proportion of pyroxenite in such source regions. Examples of such applications include calculations of isentropic decompression melting of a mixed peridotite + pyroxenite mantle; these show that although the potential temperature of the upwelling mantle plays an important role in defining the extent of magma production, the composition and mass fraction of the pyroxenite also exert strong controls

Exoplanet Science Priorities from the Perspective of Internal and Surface Processes for Silicate and Ice Dominated Worlds

The geophysics of extrasolar planets is a scientific topic often regarded as standing largely beyond the reach of near-term observations. This reality in no way diminishes the central role of geophysical phenomena in shaping planetary outcomes, from formation, to thermal and chemical evolution, to numerous issues of surface and near-surface habitability. We emphasize that for a balanced understanding of extrasolar planets, it is important to look beyond the natural biases of current observing tools, and actively seek unique pathways to understand exoplanet interiors as best as possible during the long interim prior to a time when internal components are more directly accessible. Such pathways include but are not limited to: (a) enhanced theoretical and numerical modeling, (b) laboratory research on critical material properties, (c) measurement of geophysical properties by indirect inference from imprints left on atmospheric and orbital properties, and (d) the purpose-driven use of Solar System object exploration expressly for its value in comparative planetology toward exoplanet-analogs. Breaking down barriers that envision local Solar System exploration, including the study of Earth's own deep interior, as separate from and in financial competition with extrasolar planet research, may greatly improve the rate of needed scientific progress for exoplanet geophysics. As the number of known rocky and icy exoplanets grows in the years ahead, we expect demand for expertise in 'exogeoscience' will expand at a commensurately intense pace. We highlight key topics, including: how water oceans below ice shells may dominate the total habitability of our galaxy by volume, how free-floating nomad planets may often attain habitable subsurface oceans supported by radionuclide decay, and how deep interiors may critically interact with atmospheric mass loss via dynamo-driven magnetic fields