A reappraisal of the habitability of planets around M dwarf stars

Stable, hydrogen-burning, M dwarf stars make up about 75% of all stars in the Galaxy. They are extremely long-lived, and because they are much smaller in mass than the Sun (between 0.5 and 0.08 M(Sun)), their temperature and stellar luminosity are low and peaked in the red. We have re-examined what is known at present about the potential for a terrestrial planet forming within, or migrating into, the classic liquid-surface-water habitable zone close to an M dwarf star. Observations of protoplanetary disks suggest that planet-building materials are common around M dwarfs, but N-body simulations differ in their estimations of the likelihood of potentially habitable, wet planets that reside within their habitable zones, which are only about one-fifth to 1/50th of the width of that for a G star. Particularly in light of the claimed detection of the planets with masses as small as 5.5 and 7.5 M(Earth) orbiting M stars, there seems no reason to exclude the possibility of terrestrial planets. Tidally locked synchronous rotation within the narrow habitable zone does not necessarily lead to atmospheric collapse, and active stellar flaring may not be as much of an evolutionarily disadvantageous factor as has previously been supposed. We conclude that M dwarf stars may indeed be viable hosts for planets on which the origin and evolution of life can occur. A number of planetary processes such as cessation of geothermal activity or thermal and nonthermal atmospheric loss processes may limit the duration of planetary habitability to periods far shorter than the extreme lifetime of the M dwarf star. Nevertheless, it makes sense to include M dwarf stars in programs that seek to find habitable worlds and evidence of life. This paper presents the summary conclusions of an interdisciplinary workshop (http://mstars.seti.org) sponsored by the NASA Astrobiology Institute and convened at the SETI Institute.

Coronal mass ejection (CME) activity of low mass M stars as an important factor for the habitability of terrestrial exoplanets. II. CME-induced ion pick up of Earth-like exoplanets in close-in habitable zones

Atmospheric erosion of CO2-rich Earth-size exoplanets due to coronal mass ejection (CME)-induced ion pick up within close-in habitable zones of active M-type dwarf stars is investigated. Since M stars are active at the X-ray and extreme ultraviolet radiation (XUV) wave-lengths over long periods of time, we have applied a thermal balance model at various XUV flux input values for simulating the thermospheric heating by photodissociation and ionization processes due to exothermic chemical reactions and cooling by the CO2 infrared radiation in the 15 microm band. Our study shows that intense XUV radiation of active M stars results in atmospheric expansion and extended exospheres. Using thermospheric neutral and ion densities calculated for various XUV fluxes, we applied a numerical test particle model for simulation of atmospheric ion pick up loss from an extended exosphere arising from its interaction with expected minimum and maximum CME plasma flows. Our results indicate that the Earth-like exoplanets that have no, or weak, magnetic moments may lose tens to hundreds of bars of atmospheric pressure, or even their whole atmospheres due to the CME-induced O ion pick up at orbital distances <or=0.2 astronomical units. We have found that, when exposed to intense XUV fluxes, atmospheres with CO2/N2 mixing ratios lower than 96% will show an increase in exospheric temperatures and expanded thermosphere-exosphere environments. Hence, they suffer stronger atmospheric erosion, which can result in the total loss of several hundred bars even if an exoplanet is protected by a "magnetic shield" with its boundary located at 1 Earth radius above the surface. Furthermore, our study indicates that magnetic moments of tidally locked Earth-like exoplanets are essential for protecting their expanded upper atmospheres because of intense XUV radiation against CME plasma erosion. Therefore, we suggest that larger and more massive terrestrial-type exoplanets may better protect their atmospheres against CMEs, because the larger cores of such exoplanets would generate stronger magnetic moments and their higher gravitational acceleration would constrain the expansion of their thermosphere-exosphere regions and reduce atmospheric escape.

Dissociative recombination of the weakly bound NO-dimer cation: cross sections and three-body dynamics

Dissociative recombination (DR) of the dimer ion (NO)(2) (+) has been studied at the heavy-ion storage ring CRYRING at the Manne Siegbahn Laboratory, Stockholm. The experiments were aimed at determining details on the strongly enhanced thermal rate coefficient for the dimer, interpreting the dissociation dynamics of the dimer ion, and studying the degree of similarity to the behavior in the monomer. The DR rate reveals that the very large efficiency of the dimer rate with respect to the monomer is limited to electron energies below 0.2 eV. The fragmentation products reveal that the breakup into the three-body channel NO+O+N dominates with a probability of 0.69+/-0.02. The second most important channel yields NO+NO fragments with a probability of 0.23+/-0.03. Furthermore, the dominant three-body breakup yields electronic and vibrational ground-state products, NO(upsilon=0)+N((4)S)+O((3)P), in about 45% of the cases. The internal product-state distribution of the NO fragment shows a similarity with the product-state distribution as predicted by the Franck-Condon overlap between a NO moiety of the dimer ion and a free NO. The dissociation dynamics seem to be independent of the NO internal energy. Finally, the dissociation dynamics reveal a correlation between the kinetic energy of the NO fragment and the degree of conservation of linear momentum between the O and N product atoms. The observations support a mechanism in which the recoil takes place along one of the NO bonds in the dimer.

Electron energy-dependent product state distributions in the dissociative recombination of O2+

We present product state distributions and quantum yields from the dissociative recombination reaction of O2+ in its electronic and vibrational ground states as a function of electron collision energy between 0 and 300 meV. The experiments have been performed in the heavy-ion storage ring, CRYRING, and use a cold hollow-cathode discharge source for the production of cold molecular oxygen ions. The branching fractions over the different dissociation limits show distinct oscillations while the resulting product quantum yields are largely independent of electron collision energy above 40 meV. The branching results are well reproduced assuming an isotropic dissociation process, in contrast with recent theoretical predictions.

Vibrationally resolved rate coefficients and branching fractions in the dissociative recombination of O2+

We have studied the dissociative recombination of the first three vibrational levels of O(2) (+) in its electronic ground X (2)Pi(g) state. Absolute rate coefficients, cross sections, quantum yields and branching fractions have been determined in a merged-beam experiment in the heavy-ion storage ring, CRYRING, employing fragment imaging for the reaction dynamics. We present the absolute total rate coefficients as function of collision energies up to 0.4 eV for five different vibrational populations of the ion beam, as well as the partial (vibrationally resolved) rate coefficients and the branching fractions near 0 eV collision energy for the vibrational levels v=0, 1, and 2. The vibrational populations used were produced in a modified electron impact ion source, which has been calibrated using Cs-O(2)(+) dissociative charge transfer reactions. The measurements indicate that at low collision energies, the total rate coefficient is weakly dependent on the vibrational excitation. The calculated thermal rate coefficient at 300 K decreases upon vibrational excitation. The partial rate coefficients as well as the partial branching fractions are found to be strongly dependent on the vibrational level. The partial rate coefficient is the fastest for v=0 and goes down by a factor of two or more for v=1 and 2. The O((1)S) quantum yield, linked to the green airglow, increases strongly upon increasing vibrational level. The effects of the dissociative recombination reactions and super elastic collisions on the vibrational populations are discussed.