Stellar-Planetary Relations: Atmospheric Stability as a Prerequisite for Planetary Habitability

Abstract

The region around a star where a life-supporting biosphere can evolve is the so-called Habitable Zone (HZ). The current definition of the HZ is based only on the mass-luminosity relation of the star and climatological and meteorological considerations of Earth-like planets, but neglects atmospheric loss processes due to the interaction with the stellar radiation and particle environment. From the knowledge of the planets in the Solar System, we know that planets can only evolve into a habitable world if they have a stable orbit around its host star and if they keep the atmosphere and water inventory during: (i) the period of heavy bombardment by asteroids and comets and (ii) during the host stars’ active X-ray and extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and stellar wind periods. Impacts play a minor role for planets with the size and mass like Earth, while high XUV fluxes and strong stellar winds during the active periods of the young host star can destroy the atmospheres and water inventories. We show that XUV produced temperatures in the upper atmospheres of Earth-like planets can lead to hydrodynamic “blow off”, resulting in the total loss of the planets water inventory and atmosphere, even if their orbits lie inside the HZ. Further, our study indicates that Earth-like planets inside the HZ of low mass stars may not develop an atmosphere, because at orbital distances closer than 0.3AU, their atmospheres are highly affected by strong stellar winds and coronal mass ejections (CME’s). Our study suggests that planetary magnetospheres will not protect the atmosphere of such planets, because the strong stellar wind of the young star can compress the magnetopause to the atmospheric obstacle. Moreover, planets inside close-in HZ’s are tidally locked, therefore, their magnetic moments are weaker than those of an Earth-like planet at 1AU. Our results indicate that Earth-like planets in orbits of low mass stars may not develop stable biospheres. From this point of view, a HZ, where higher life forms like on Earth may evolve is possibly restricted to higher mass K stars and G stars.