5 papers
A New Global Chemical Equilibrium Code: Refractory Element Signatures in Super-Earths and Sub-Neptunes
Simon Grimm, Marie-Luise Steinmeyer, Aaron Werlen +3
The atmospheres of super-Earths and sub-Neptunes can be strongly modified by chemical exchange with their molten interiors during long-lived magma ocean phases. Interpreting atmosp…
Coupled Thermal-Chemical Evolution Models of Sub-Neptunes Reveal Atmospheric Signatures of Their Formation Location
Marie-Luise Steinmeyer, Caroline Dorn, Aaron Werlen +1
The observed masses and radii of sub-Neptunes are typically explained by the gas dwarf and the water world scenarios. While their evolutionary history on a population level has bee…
Water-rich sub-Neptunes and rocky super Earths around different Stars: Radii shaped by Volatile Partitioning, Formation, and Evolution
Remo Burn, Komal Bali, Caroline Dorn +2
The nature of sub-Neptunes remains unknown due to degeneracies in interior structure solutions. However, a statistical set of small planets with measured masses and radii can be us…
Sub-Neptunes Are Drier Than They Seem: Rethinking the Origins of Water-Rich Worlds
Aaron Werlen, Caroline Dorn, Remo Burn +3
Recent claims of biosignature gases in sub-Neptune atmospheres have renewed interest in water-rich sub-Neptunes with surface oceans, often referred to as Hycean planets. These plan…
Atmospheric C/O Ratios of Sub-Neptunes with Magma Oceans: Homemade rather than Inherited
Aaron Werlen, Caroline Dorn, Hilke E. Schlichting +2
Recently, the James Webb Space Telescope has enabled detailed spectroscopic characterization of sub-Neptune atmospheres. With detections of carbon- and oxygen-bearing species such…