The statistical reliability of 267 GHz JCMT observations of Venus: No significant evidence for phosphine absorption

Abstract

In the light of the recent announcement of the discovery of the potential biosignature phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus I present an independent reanalysis of the original JCMT data to assess the statistical reliability of the detection. Two line detection methods are explored, low order polynomial fits and higher order multiple polynomial fits. A non-parametric bootstrap analysis reveals that neither line detection method is able to recover a statistically significant detection. Similar to the results of other reanalyses of ALMA Venus spectra, the polynomial fitting process results in false positive detections in the JCMT spectrum. There is thus no significant evidence for phosphine absorption in the JCMT Venus spectra.

5 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by MNRAS

References in corpus (5)

• Phosphine Gas in the Cloud Decks of Venus
• Phosphine as a Biosignature Gas in Exoplanet Atmospheres
• A Precursor Balloon Mission for Venusian Astrobiology
• On The Biomass Required To Produce Phosphine Detected In The Cloud Decks Of Venus
• Transfer of Life Between Earth and Venus with Planet-Grazing Asteroids

Cited by in corpus (17)

• No evidence of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus by independent analyses
• Phosphine on Venus Cannot be Explained by Conventional Processes
• Claimed detection of PH${}_3$ in the clouds of Venus is consistent with mesospheric SO${}_2$
• Complications in the ALMA Detection of Phosphine at Venus
• Re-analysis of Phosphine in Venus' Clouds
• Phosphine in the Venusian Atmosphere: A Strict Upper Limit from SOFIA GREAT Observations
• Recovery of Spectra of Phosphine in Venus' Clouds
• On the Robustness of Phosphine Signatures in Venus' Clouds
• Detectability of biosignatures on LHS 1140 b
• Low levels of sulphur dioxide contamination of Venusian phosphine spectra
• Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE): VIII. Where is the phosphine? Observing exoplanetary PH3 with a space based MIR nulling interferometer
• Detecting Biosignatures in the Atmospheres of Gas Dwarf Planets with the James Webb Space Telescope
• Astrobiological Potential of Venus Atmosphere Chemical Anomalies and Other Unexplained Cloud Properties
• Interior Controls on the Habitability of Rocky Planets
• Venusian phosphine: a 'Wow!' signal in chemistry?
• Venus Cloud Research: Progress and Perspectives
• Necessary Conditions for Earthly Life Floating in the Venusian Atmosphere