Atmospheric Escape From TOI-700 d: Venus versus Earth Analogs
Chuanfei Dong, Meng Jin, Manasvi Lingam

TL;DR
This study uses advanced models to evaluate whether the exoplanet TOI-700 d can retain its atmosphere over billions of years, considering different atmospheric compositions and magnetic field scenarios, which impacts its habitability potential.
Contribution
It provides the first detailed magnetohydrodynamic simulations of atmospheric escape for TOI-700 d, highlighting conditions under which it can sustain an atmosphere.
Findings
Unmagnetized Earth-like atmosphere likely lost in < 1 Gyr.
CO2-dominated atmosphere can last for billions of years.
Magnetized scenarios show intermediate atmospheric retention.
Abstract
The recent discovery of an Earth-sized planet (TOI-700 d) in the habitable zone of an early-type M-dwarf by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite constitutes an important advance. In this Letter, we assess the feasibility of this planet to retain an atmosphere -- one of the chief ingredients for surface habitability -- over long timescales by employing state-of-the-art magnetohydrodynamic models to simulate the stellar wind and the associated rates of atmospheric escape. We take two major factors into consideration, namely, the planetary atmospheric composition and magnetic field. In all cases, we determine that the atmospheric ion escape rates are potentially a few orders of magnitude higher than the inner Solar system planets, but TOI-700 d is nevertheless capable of retaining a bar atmosphere over gigayear timescales for certain regions of the parameter space. The simulations…
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Taxonomy
TopicsStellar, planetary, and galactic studies · Astro and Planetary Science · Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics
