Seminar: Finding life on Earth-like exoplanets from its influence on atmospheric composition

Abstract: Are we alone? I will discuss how the evolution of atmospheric composition and climate over Earth’s multi-billion-year history serves as a model to inform the future search for life on possible Earth-like exoplanets, or Exo-Earths. I will consider the nuances of whether a potentially biogenic atmospheric gas or disequilibrium mixture of atmospheric gases on an Exo-Earth is truly a biosignature. An assessment of future exoplanet biosignatures depends on what we can determine about an exoplanet’s habitability and possible abiotic processes that might mimic biosignatures. These matters are best considered within a framework of Bayesian probability.

Contact: S. Ivanovski

Wednesday, May 29 at 11:30

Join in person in the library seminar room (Castello Basevi) or remotely on meet.google.com/zfy-mtgs-tpc .

David will visit the observatory for the whole week.

The "Meet the Speaker" session with David, reserved to students and postdocs, will be held in Villa Bazzoni on Wednesday at 2:30 to 3:30 PM