Model Atmospheres and Chemistry

Exoplanetary Atmospheres—Chemistry, Formation Conditions, and Habitability

Characterizing the atmospheres of extrasolar planets is the new frontier in exoplanetary science. The last two decades of exoplanet discoveries have revealed that exoplanets are very common and extremely diverse in their orbital and bulk properties. We now enter a new era as we begin to investigate the chemical diversity of exoplanets, their atmospheric and interior processes, and their formati...

A comparison of chemistry and dust cloud formation in ultracool dwarf model atmospheres

The atmospheres of substellar objects contain clouds of oxides, iron, silicates, and other refractory condensates. Water clouds are expected in the coolest objects. The opacity of these ‘dust’ clouds strongly affects both the atmospheric temperature-pressure profile and the emergent flux. Thus any attempt to model the spectra of these atmospheres must incorporate a cloud model. However the dive...

MARCS model atmospheres

In this review presented at the Symposium A stellar journey in Uppsala, June 2008, I give my account of the historical development of the MARCS code from the first version published in 1975 and its premises to the 2008 grid. It is shown that the primary driver for the development team is the science that can be done with the models, and that they constantly strive to include the best possible p...

Non-equilibrium chemistry in the atmospheres of brown dwarfs

Carbon monoxide and ammonia have been detected in the spectrum of Gl 229B at abundances that differ substantially from those obtained from chemical equilibrium. Vertical mixing in the atmosphere is a mechanism that can drive slowly reacting species out of chemical equilibrium. We explore the effects of vertical mixing as a function of mixing efficiency and effective temperature on the chemical ...

Chemistry of Silicate Atmospheres of Evaporating Super- Earths