Monte Carlo models of dust coagulation

The thesis deals with the first stage of planet formation, namely dust coagulation from micron to millimeter sizes in circumstellar disks. For the first time, we collect and compile the recent laboratory experiments on dust aggregates into a collision model that can be implemented into dust coagulation models. We put this model into a Monte Carlo code that uses representative particles to simulate dust evolution. Simulations are performed using three different disk models in a local box (0D) located at 1 AU distance from the central star. We find that the dust evolution does not follow the previously assumed growth-fragmentation cycle, but growth is halted by bouncing before the fragmentation regime is reached. We call this the bouncing barrier which is an additional obstacle during the already complex formation process of planetesimals. The absence of the growth-fragmentation cycle and the halted growth has two important consequences for planet formation. 1) It is observed that disk atmospheres are dusty throughout their lifetime. Previous models concluded that the small, continuously produced fragments can keep the disk atmospheres dusty. We however show that small fragments are not produced because bouncing prevents fragmentation. 2) As particles do not reach the fragmentation barrier, their sizes are smaller compared to the sizes reached in previous dust models. We decided to investigate point 1) in more detail. A vertical column of a disk (1D) is modeled including the sedimentation of the particles. We find that already intermediate levels of turbulence can prevent particles settling to the midplane.Comment: PhD thesis, defended on the 18th of October 201

Photosynthesis in Hydrogen-Dominated Atmospheres

The diversity of extrasolar planets discovered in the last decade shows that we should not be constrained to look for life in environments similar to early or present-day Earth. Super-Earth exoplanets are being discovered with increasing frequency, and some will be able to retain a stable, hydrogen-dominated atmosphere. We explore the possibilities for photosynthesis on a rocky planet with a thin H[subscript 2]-dominated atmosphere. If a rocky, H[subscript 2]-dominated planet harbors life, then that life is likely to convert atmospheric carbon into methane. Outgassing may also build an atmosphere in which methane is the principal carbon species. We describe the possible chemical routes for photosynthesis starting from methane and show that less energy and lower energy photons could drive CH[subscript 4]-based photosynthesis as compared with CO[subscript 2]-based photosynthesis. We find that a by-product biosignature gas is likely to be H[subscript 2], which is not distinct from the hydrogen already present in the environment. Ammonia is a potential biosignature gas of hydrogenic photosynthesis that is unlikely to be generated abiologically. We suggest that the evolution of methane-based photosynthesis is at least as likely as the evolution of anoxygenic photosynthesis on Earth and may support the evolution of complex life

A 1D microphysical cloud model for Earth, and Earth-like exoplanets. Liquid water and water ice clouds in the convective troposphere

One significant difference between the atmospheres of stars and exoplanets is the presence of condensed particles (clouds or hazes) in the atmosphere of the latter. The main goal of this paper is to develop a self-consistent microphysical cloud model for 1D atmospheric codes, which can reproduce some observed properties of Earth, such as the average albedo, surface temperature, and global energy budget. The cloud model is designed to be computationally efficient, simple to implement, and applicable for a wide range of atmospheric parameters for planets in the habitable zone. We use a 1D, cloud-free, radiative-convective, and photochemical equilibrium code originally developed by Kasting, Pavlov, Segura, and collaborators as basis for our cloudy atmosphere model. The cloud model is based on models used by the meteorology community for Earth's clouds. The free parameters of the model are the relative humidity and number density of condensation nuclei, and the precipitation efficiency. In a 1D model, the cloud coverage cannot be self-consistently determined, thus we treat it as a free parameter. We apply this model to Earth (aerosol number density 100 cm^-3, relative humidity 77 %, liquid cloud fraction 40 %, and ice cloud fraction 25 %) and find that a precipitation efficiency of 0.8 is needed to reproduce the albedo, average surface temperature and global energy budget of Earth. We perform simulations to determine how the albedo and the climate of a planet is influenced by the free parameters of the cloud model. We find that the planetary climate is most sensitive to changes in the liquid water cloud fraction and precipitation efficiency. The advantage of our cloud model is that the cloud height and the droplet sizes are self-consistently calculated, both of which influence the climate and albedo of exoplanets.Comment: To appear in Icaru

TOWARD THE MINIMUM INNER EDGE DISTANCE OF THE HABITABLE ZONE

We explore the minimum distance from a host star where an exoplanet could potentially be habitable in order not to discard close-in rocky exoplanets for follow-up observations. We find that the inner edge of the Habitable Zone for hot desert worlds can be as close as 0.38 AU around a solar-like star, if the greenhouse effect is reduced (~1% relative humidity) and the surface albedo is increased. We consider a wide range of atmospheric and planetary parameters such as the mixing ratios of greenhouse gases (water vapor and CO[subscript 2]), surface albedo, pressure, and gravity. Intermediate surface pressure (~1-10 bars) is necessary to limit water loss and to simultaneously sustain an active water cycle. We additionally find that the water loss timescale is influenced by the atmospheric CO[subscript 2] level, because it indirectly influences the stratospheric water mixing ratio. If the CO[subscript 2] mixing ratio of dry planets at the inner edge is smaller than 10[superscript –4], the water loss timescale is ~1 billion years, which is considered here too short for life to evolve. We also show that the expected transmission spectra of hot desert worlds are similar to an Earth-like planet. Therefore, an instrument designed to identify biosignature gases in an Earth-like atmosphere can also identify similarly abundant gases in the atmospheres of dry planets. Our inner edge limit is closer to the host star than previous estimates. As a consequence, the occurrence rate of potentially habitable planets is larger than previously thought

Automated identification of multinucleated germ cells with U-Net.

Phthalic acid esters (phthalates) are male reproductive toxicants, which exert their most potent toxicity during fetal development. In the fetal rat, exposure to phthalates reduces testosterone biosynthesis, alters the development of seminiferous cords and other male reproductive tissues, and induces the formation of abnormal multinucleated germ cells (MNGs). Identification of MNGs is a time-intensive process, and it requires specialized training to identify MNGs in histological sections. As a result, MNGs are not routinely quantified in phthalate toxicity experiments. In order to speed up and standardize this process, we have developed an improved method for automated detection of MNGs. Using hand-labeled histological section images with human-identified MNGs, we trained a convolutional neural network with a U-Net architecture to identify MNGs on unlabeled images. With unseen hand-labeled images not used in model training, we assessed the performance of the model, using five different configurations of the data. On average, the model reached near human accuracy, and in the best model, it exceeded it. The use of automated image analysis will allow data on this histopathological endpoint to be more readily collected for analysis of phthalate toxicity. Our trained model application code is available for download at github.com/brown-ccv/mngcount

Automated data extraction from historical city directories: The rise and fall of mid-century gas stations in Providence, RI.

The location of defunct environmentally hazardous businesses like gas stations has many implications for modern American cities. To track down these locations, we present the directoreadr code (github.com/brown-ccv/directoreadr). Using scans of Polk city directories from Providence, RI, directoreadr extracts and parses business location data with a high degree of accuracy. The image processing pipeline ran without any human input for 94.4% of the pages we examined. For the remaining 5.6%, we processed them with some human input. Through hand-checking a sample of three years, we estimate that ~94.6% of historical gas stations are correctly identified and located, with historical street changes and non-standard address formats being the main drivers of errors. As an example use, we look at gas stations, finding that gas stations were most common early in the study period in 1936, beginning a sharp and steady decline around 1950. We are making the dataset produced by directoreadr publicly available. We hope it will be used to explore a range of important questions about socioeconomic patterns in Providence and cities like it during the transformations of the mid-1900s

Searching for Terrestrial Planets Orbiting in the Habitable Zone of Ultra-Cool Stars and Brown Dwarfs

We propose to use Kepler in 2-wheel mode to conduct a detailed search for Earth-sized planets orbiting ultra-cool stars and brown dwarfs (spectral types from M7 to L3). This population of objects presents several advantages for exoplanet surveys. First, ultra-cool stars and brown dwarfs are small and thus result in favorable planet-to-star area ratios. Second, because of their low effective temperature, the inner edge of their habitable zone is extremely close (2 to 3 days only). Third, our targets are bright at infrared wavelengths, which will enable detailed follow-up studies. Our program therefore represents a unique opportunity to find a transiting Earth-size exoplanet for which atmospheric features (including biosignatures) could be detected with near-to-come facilities such as JWST. Such exoplanet has not been discovered yet. Kepler in 2-wheel mode provides the required stability and photometric precision to make this survey successful. Our initial target sample includes 60 ultra-cool stars and brown dwarfs from which we expect to detect at least one transiting planet. We propose to monitor each source for 4 days, resulting in a total program duration of ~240 days