High-resolution Spectra and Biosignatures of Earth-like Planets Transiting White Dwarfs

TL;DR

This paper models high-resolution spectra of Earth-like planets orbiting white dwarfs to aid future atmospheric characterization and biosignature detection with next-generation telescopes.

Contribution

It provides detailed transmission spectra models for planets around cooling white dwarfs, facilitating upcoming observational efforts.

Findings

Spectra cover planets from 6000K to 4000K white dwarfs.

Models include planets with Earth-like irradiation and habitable zone orbits.

Spectral data will be publicly available for future telescope observations.

Abstract

With the first observations of debris disks as well as proposed planets around white dwarfs, the question of how rocky planets around such stellar remnants can be characterized and probed for signs of life becomes tangible. White dwarfs are similar in size to Earth and have relatively stable environments for billions of years after initial cooling, making them intriguing targets for exoplanet searches and terrestrial planet atmospheric characterization. Their small size and the resulting large planet transit signal allows observations with next generation telescopes to probe the atmosphere of such rocky planets, if they exist. We model high-resolution transmission spectra for planets orbiting white dwarfs from as they cool from 6,000-4,000 K, for i) planets receiving equivalent irradiation to modern Earth, and ii) planets orbiting at the distance around a cooling white dwarf which allows for the longest continuous time in the habitable zone. All high-resolution transmission spectra will be publicly available online upon publication of this study and can be used as a tool to prepare and interpret upcoming observations with JWST, the Extremely Large Telescopes as well as mission concepts like Origins, HabEx, and LUVOIR.