Gregory's ServerSounds wild? Theoretically predicted >20 years ago already, we have now increasing evidence for water worlds, specifically around M dwarfs. See attached figure from Luque & Pallé (2022, Science), providing distinct evidence for planets with ~50 wt% water around M dwarfs. Our simulations here (and previous papers from me and collaborators) suggest an alternative to the migration theory: *timing* of planet formation. If planets form early, they receive balanced volatile abundances.
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Coming back to the original question we posed: are M dwarf exoplanets good testbeds for surficial origin of life theories, and scenarios of impact triggering of transient reduced atmospheres? Probably not. Are they still interesting? Absolutely. M dwarf exoplanets are crucial in helping us to refine our understanding of planetary physics and chemistry and test Solar System-derived theories in a grand context. Finally, one more link to the 20 min video of the talk, since I had to massively cut out material and explanation given the threaded nature: https://youtu.be/M2CopK35Jrs. Happy to answer any questions, thanks for dropping by. 🙂 |
(Hint: stay tuned for next week, another paper upcoming on this topic. 🤓 )