Can Isotopologues Be Used as Biosignature Gases in Exoplanet Atmospheres?

Isotopologue ratios are anticipated to be one of the most promising signs of life that can be observed remotely. On Earth, carbon isotopes have been used for decades as evidence of modern and early metabolic processes. In fact, carbon isotopes may be the oldest evidence for life on Earth, though there are alternative geological processes that can lead to the same magnitude of fractionation. However, using isotopologues as biosignature gases in exoplanet atmospheres presents several challenges. Most significantly, we will only have limited knowledge of the underlying abiotic carbon reservoir of an exoplanet. Atmospheric carbon isotope ratios will thus have to be compared against the local interstellar medium or, better yet, their host star. A further substantial complication is the limited precision of remote atmospheric measurements using spectroscopy. The various metabolic processes that cause isotope fractionation cause less fractionation than anticipated measurement precision (biological fractionation is typically 2 to 7%). While this level of precision is easily reachable in the laboratory or with special in situ instruments, it is out of reach of current telescope technology to measure isotope ratios for terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres. Thus, gas isotopologues are poor biosignatures for exoplanets given our current and foreseeable technological limitations.

The 13CO-rich atmosphere of a young accreting super-Jupiter

Isotope abundance ratios have an important role in astronomy and planetary sciences, providing insights into the origin and evolution of the Solar System, interstellar chemistry and stellar nucleosynthesis^1,2. In contrast to deuterium/hydrogen ratios, carbon isotope ratios are found to be roughly constant (around 89) in the Solar System^1,3, but do vary on galactic scales with a ¹²C/¹³C isotopologue ratio of around 68 in the current local interstellar medium^4-6. In molecular clouds and protoplanetary disks, ¹²CO/¹³CO ratios can be altered by ice and gas partitioning⁷, low-temperature isotopic ion-exchange reactions⁸ and isotope-selective photodissociation⁹. Here we report observations of ¹³CO in the atmosphere of the young, accreting super-Jupiter TYC 8998-760-1 b, at a statistical significance of more than six sigma. Marginalizing over the planet's atmospheric temperature structure, chemical composition and spectral calibration uncertainties suggests a ¹²CO/¹³CO ratio of [Formula: see text](90% confidence), a substantial enrichment in ¹³C with respect to the terrestrial standard and the local interstellar value. As the current location of TYC 8998-760-1 b at greater than or equal to 160 astronomical units is far beyond the CO snowline, we postulate that it accreted a substantial fraction of its carbon from ices enriched in ¹³C through fractionation.