The DOI matches its Crossref record; 6 of the 6 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
ABIOTIC OXYGEN-DOMINATED ATMOSPHERES ON TERRESTRIAL HABITABLE ZONE PLANETS
Open accessAbstract
Detection of life on other planets requires identification of biosignatures, i.e., observable planetary properties that robustly indicate the presence of a biosphere. One of the most widely accepted biosignatures for an Earth-like planet is an atmosphere where oxygen is a major constituent. Here we show that lifeless habitable zone terrestrial planets around any star type may develop oxygen-dominated atmospheres as a result of water photolysis, because the cold trap mechanism that protects H 2 O on Earth is ineffective when the atmospheric inventory of non-condensing gases (e.g., N 2 , Ar) is low. Hence the spectral features of O 2 and O 3 alone cannot be regarded as robust signs of extraterrestrial life.
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“Wordsworth and Pierrehumbert (2014) investigated oxygen and ozone formation in CO2-rich low-pressure atmospheres.”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Wordsworth and Pierrehumbert, 2014
Citations
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“Extensive atmospheric O2 buildup due to H2O photolysis followed by H escape may also occur on planets that enter a runaway greenhouse state (Ingersoll 1969; Kasting 1988; Leconte et al. 2013).”
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Extreme Water Loss and Abiotic O 2 Buildup on Planets Throughout the Habitable Zones of M Dwarfs
Luger, R., & Barnes, R. (2015) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2014.1231 · Cited by 585
“Our present work could also strengthen the results of Wordsworth and Pierrehumbert (2014) and Tian et al. (2014), which indicate that oxygen is not a reliable biosignature; in fact, planets with such elevated quantities of O 2 may be uninhabitable.”
InfluentialExoplanet Biosignatures: A Review of Remotely Detectable Signs of Life
Schwieterman, E. W., Kiang, N. Y., Parenteau, M. N., Harman, C. E., DasSarma, S., Fisher, T. M., Arney, G. N., Hartnett, H. E., Reinhard, C. T., Olson, S. L., et al. (2018) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2017.1729 · Cited by 630
“…from robust photolysis of CO2 or a history of extreme hydrogen escape and O2 buildup (e.g., DomagalGoldman and Meadows, 2010; Hu et al., 2012; DomagalGoldman et al., 2014; Tian et al., 2014; Wordsworth and Pierrehumbert, 2014; Gao et al., 2015; Harman et al., 2015; Luger and Barnes, 2015).”
BackgroundInfluentialAtmospheric Evolution on Inhabited and Lifeless Worlds
Catling, D. C., & Kasting, J. F. (2017) · doi:10.1017/9781139020558 · Cited by 342
The habitability of planets orbiting M-dwarf stars
Shields, A. L., Ballard, S., & Johnson, J. A. (2016) · Physics Reports · doi:10.1016/j.physrep.2016.10.003 · Cited by 398
“A low inventory of non-condensing gases such as N2 in a planet’s atmosphere could prevent cold trapping of H2O in the upper atmosphere, increasing the likelihood of abiotic O2-rich worlds (Wordsworth & Pierrehumbert, 2014).”
BackgroundExoplanet Biosignatures: Understanding Oxygen as a Biosignature in the Context of Its Environment
Meadows, V., Reinhard, C. T., Arney, G., Parenteau, M. N., Schwieterman, E. W., Domagal-Goldman, S. D., Lincowski, A., Stapelfeldt, K. R., Rauer, H., DasSarma, S., et al. (2018) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2017.1727 · Cited by 341
“Because the water loss is a strong function of the planet’s atmospheric composition, this potential abiotic O2 generation mechanism can affect planets orbiting any type of star (Wordsworth and Pierrehumbert, 2014).”
BackgroundInfluential
Metadata
- Authors
- Wordsworth, R., & Pierrehumbert, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Chicago (US)
- Venue
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Publisher
- American Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2014-04-01
- Volume
- 785
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- L20
- ISSN
- 2041-8205 (ISSN-L)
- 2041-8213
- OpenAlex
- W2101682039
- Cited by
- 222
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 4
- FWCI
- 9.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Astrophysical Journal Letters (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Space and Planetary Science › Planetary Science and Exploration
- Keywords
- biosignatures, habitable zone planets, terrestrial planets, water photolysis, atmospheric nitrogen, atmospheric argon, ozone, exoplanet atmospheres, life detection
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