Donna Rodgers-Lee

Despite their discovery fifteen years ago, the nature and origin of the Fermi bubbles remain unclear. We here investigate the effect a magnetic field can have on a subsonic breeze outflow emanating from the Galactic centre region. The presence of this magnetic field allows anisotropic diffusion of cosmic rays within the outflow, shaping the resultant cosmic ray distribution obtained out at large distances within the Galactic halo. We show that our magnetohydrodynamic Galactic breeze model, in combination with an opening angle for the injection of cosmic rays, leads to $\gamma$-ray emission from the Fermi bubble region with relatively sharp edges.

Over the past two decades, increasingly precise observations have revealed that exoplanet atmospheres are chemically diverse and often far from equilibrium, with processes such as vertical mixing, photochemistry, and atmospheric circulation producing significant departures from thermochemical expectations. As large surveys across a wide range of planets begin to uncover population-level chemical trends, a coherent interpretation of these patterns remains elusive, particularly for gas giants and Neptune-like planets where disequilibrium processes likely dominate. The ESA Ariel mission will provide the first homogeneous, statistically significant atmospheric data set for nearly a thousand exoplanets, offering an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the origins of chemical diversity across planetary populations. This white paper highlights central scientific questions for understanding atmospheric chemistry and recognized as priorities for the community. These questions span the mechanisms driving disequilibrium chemistry, the role of sulfur- and phosphorus-bearing species, the influence of stellar activity, the formation of haze precursors, and the chemical evolution of atmospheres around stars of different ages and types. Because these topics connect chemistry, physics, and planetary evolution, they form the core focus of the Ariel Chemistry Working Group, which synthesizes current knowledge and identifies the diagnostics best addressed by Ariel’s spectral capabilities. For each theme, we outline observational strategies and representative targets already included in the Mission Candidate Sample, illustrating Ariel’s ability to address these questions. By linking large-scale observations to predictive atmospheric models, this work supports refinement of Ariel’s target selection and enables population-level studies that will transform our understanding of planetary atmospheres.

Context. Cosmic rays, both solar and Galactic, have an ionising effect on the Earth’s atmosphere and are thought to be important in the production of prebiotic molecules. In particular, the H₂-dominated atmosphere that follows an ocean-vaporising impact is considered favourable to prebiotic molecule formation. As a first step in determining the role that cosmic rays might have played in the origin of life, we need to understand the significance of their ionising effect. Aims. We model the transport of solar and Galactic cosmic rays through a post-impact early Earth atmosphere at 200 Myr. We aim to identify the differences in the resulting ionisation rates – particularly at the Earth’s surface during a period when the Sun was very active. Methods. We used a Monte Carlo model for describing cosmic ray transport through the early Earth atmosphere, giving the cosmic ray spectra as a function of atmospheric height. Using these spectra, we calculated the ionisation and ion-pair production rates as a function of height due to Galactic and solar cosmic rays. The Galactic and solar cosmic ray spectra are both affected by the Sun’s rotation rate, Ω, because the solar wind velocity and magnetic field strength both depend on Ω and influence cosmic ray transport. We considered a range of input spectra resulting from the range of possible rotation rates of the young Sun – from 3.5–15Ω_⊙. To account for the possibility that the Galactic cosmic ray spectrum outside the Solar System is not constant over gigayear timescales, we compared the ionisation rate at the top of the Earth’s atmosphere resulting from two different scenarios. We also considered the suppression of the cosmic ray spectra by a planetary magnetic field. Results. We find that the ionisation and ion-pair production rates due to cosmic rays are dominated by solar cosmic rays in the early Earth atmosphere for most cases. The corresponding ionisation rate at the surface of the early Earth ranges from 5 × 10⁻²¹ s⁻¹ for Ω = 3.5Ω_⊙ to 1 × 10⁻¹⁶ s⁻¹ for Ω = 15Ω_⊙. Thus if the young Sun was a fast rotator (Ω = 15Ω_⊙), it is likely that solar cosmic rays had a significant effect on the chemistry at the Earth’s surface at the time when life is likely to have formed. Conclusions. Cosmic rays, particularly solar cosmic rays, are a source of ionisation that should be taken into account in chemical modelling of the post-impact early Earth atmosphere. Modelling of cosmic ray transport and effects on chemistry will also be of interest for the characterisation of H₂-dominated exoplanet atmospheres.

Very-low-mass stars (those less than 0.3 solar masses) host orbiting terrestrial planets more frequently than other types of stars. The compositions of those planets are largely unknown but are expected to relate to the protoplanetary disk in which they form. We used James Webb Space Telescope mid-infrared spectroscopy to investigate the chemical composition of the planet-forming disk around ISO-ChaI 147, a 0.11-solar-mass star. The inner disk has a carbon-rich chemistry; we identified emission from 13 carbon-bearing molecules, including ethane and benzene. The high column densities of hydrocarbons indicate that the observations probe deep into the disk. The high carbon-to-oxygen ratio indicates radial transport of material within the disk, which we predict would affect the bulk composition of any planets forming in the disk.

Context. The MRS mode of the JWST-MIRI instrument has been shown to be a powerful tool to characterise the molecular gas emission of the inner region of planet-forming disks. Investigating their spectra allows us to infer the composition of the gas in these regions and, subsequently, the potential atmospheric composition of the forming planets. We present the JWST-MIRI observations of the compact T-Tauri disk, DR Tau, which are complemented by ground-based, high spectral resolution (R ~ 60 000–90 000) CO ro-vibrational observations. Aims. The aim of this work is to investigate the power of extending the JWST-MIRI CO observations with complementary, high-resolution, ground-based observations acquired through the SpExoDisks database, as JWST-MIRI’s spectral resolution (R ~ 1500– 3500) is not sufficient to resolve complex CO line profiles. In addition, we aim to infer the excitation conditions of other molecular features present in the JWST-MIRI spectrum of DR Tau and link those with CO. Methods. The archival complementary, high-resolution CO ro-vibrational observations were analysed with rotational diagrams. We extended these diagrams to the JWST-MIRI observations by binning and convolution with JWST-MIRI’s pseudo-Voigt line profile. In parallel, local thermal equilibrium (LTE) 0D slab models were used to infer the excitation conditions of the detected molecular species. Results. Various molecular species, including CO, CO₂, HCN, and C₂H₂, are detected in the JWST-MIRI spectrum of DR Tau, with H₂O being discussed in a subsequent paper. The high-resolution observations show evidence for two ¹²CO components: a broad component (full width at half maximum of FWHM ~33.5 km s⁻¹) tracing the Keplerian disk and a narrow component (FWHM ~ 11.6 km s⁻¹) tracing a slow disk wind. The rotational diagrams yield CO excitation temperatures of T ≥ 725 K. Consistently lower excitation temperatures are found for the narrow component, suggesting that the slow disk wind is launched from a larger radial distance. In contrast to the ground-based observations, much higher excitation temperatures are found if only the high-J transitions probed by JWST-MIRI are considered in the rotational diagrams. Additional analysis of the ¹²CO line wings suggests a larger emitting area than inferred from the slab models, hinting at a misalignment between the inner (i ~ 20°) and the outer disk (i ~ 5°). Compared to CO, we retrieved lower excitation temperatures of T ~ 325-900 K for ¹²CO₂, HCN, and C₂H₂. Conclusions. We show that complementary, high-resolution CO ro-vibrational observations are necessary to properly investigate the excitation conditions of the gas in the inner disk and they are required to interpret the spectrally unresolved JWST-MIRI CO observations. These additional observations, covering the lower-J transitions, are needed to put better constraints on the gas physical conditions and they allow for a proper treatment of the complex line profiles. A comparison with JWST-MIRI requires the use of pseudo-Voigt line profiles in the convolution rather than simple binning. The combined high-resolution CO and JWST-MIRI observations can then be used to characterise the emission, in addition to the physical and chemical conditions of the other molecules with respect to CO. The inferred excitation temperatures suggest that CO originates from the highest atmospheric layers close to the host star, followed by HCN and C₂H₂ which emit, together with ¹³CO, from slightly deeper layers, whereas the CO₂ emission originates from even deeper inside or further out of the disk.

Galactic cosmic rays are important for exoplanetary atmospheres. They can contribute to the formation of hazes, prebiotic molecules and atmospheric electrical circuits. A number of so-called fingerprint ions, such as oxonium, have been identified from chemical modelling which are thought to be signatures of ionisation by energetic particles, such as Galactic cosmic rays. These fingerprint ions may be observed in exoplanetary atmospheres with upcoming JWST observations.I will discuss our recent results that model the propagation of Galactic cosmic rays through the stellar winds of a number of nearby solar-type stars. Our sample comprises of 5 well-observed solar-type stars that we have constructed well-constrained stellar wind models for. This allows us to calculate the transport of Galactic cosmic rays through these systems. I will present our results of the Galactic cosmic ray fluxes that reach (a) the habitable zone and (b) the location of known exoplanets. The systems show a variety of behaviour and I will discuss the most promising systems for upcoming JWST observations.

Energetic particles can drive the formation of prebiotic molecules in exoplanetary which are important for the origin of life. On the other hand, large energetic particle fluxes are known to be detrimental to developed life by damaging DNA. Thus, in order to understand the origin, and subsequent survival, of life on Earth it is necessary to first understand the energetic particle fluxes incident on Earth at that time. There are two types of energetic particles that are important: stellar energetic particles accelerated by their host star and Galactic cosmic rays.I will present our recent results that model the propagation of these energetic particles through the wind of a Sun-like star during its lifetime. We find, at the time when life is thought to have begun on Earth, that Galactic cosmic ray fluxes were greatly suppressed in comparison to present-day values. However, I will show that stellar energetic particle fluxes would have been larger than present-day values. I motivate that the maximum stellar energetic particle energy increases for younger stars. This is extremely important because higher energy particles are more likely to impact the surface of a planet, in addition to its atmosphere. I will briefly discuss how we applied our model to an exoplanetary system and how this can be linked to upcoming observations.

The role of magnetic fields in the evolution and dispersal of protoplanetary disks remains unclear to date partially due to the uncertainty regarding the sources of ionisation present in protoplanetary disks. Magnetic fields can only influence protoplanetary disk dynamics if the disks are sufficiently ionised. Ionisation due to X-rays, FUV photons and radioactivity is well-studied and generally only leads to high levels of ionisation close to the young star and in the surface layers of protoplanetary disks due to high disk column densities. Here I will instead focus on the importance of stellar cosmic rays which may provide a source of ionisation for the outer regions, and closer to the midplane, of protoplanetary disks.Young solar-type stars are very magnetically active and drive stronger stellar winds in comparison to the present day Sun. The increased magnetic activity of young solar-type stars suggests that they are efficient ~GeV particle accelerators producing so-called stellar cosmic rays. Thus, protoplanetary disks are likely to be bombarded by stellar cosmic rays, influencing their chemical and dynamic evolution. These incident particles are believed to trigger the formation of complex organic molecules. Thus, they are essential to advance our understanding of how organic molecules, the building blocks of life in the Universe, form.Recent ALMA observations have provided a number of tantalising clues as to the possible importance of stellar cosmic rays in protoplanetary disks. On the one hand, chemical modelling of observations of TW Hya’s protoplanetary disk suggest that the overall ionisation rate is remarkably low. While on the other hand, ALMA observations have been used to infer the presence of significant turbulent motion in DM Tau’s protoplanetary disk. This turbulent motion is likely driven by the magneto-rotational instability which would require a much higher level of ionisation than was inferred in TW Hya’s disk for instance. I will discuss the potential influence of stellar cosmic rays in these disks. More generally, I will present recent results which investigated the propagation, and ionising effect, of stellar cosmic rays in protoplanetary disks around young solar-mass stars. Unlike X-rays and FUV photons, stellar cosmic rays may effectively avoid being attenuated by the high column densities in the inner regions of protoplanetary disks due to their diffusive transport. To construct our disk density profiles, we use observationally inferred values from nearby star-forming regions for the total disk mass and the radial density profile. By varying the disk mass within the observed scatter for a solar-mass star, we find for a large range of disk masses and density profiles that protoplanetary disks are “optically thin” to low energy stellar cosmic rays. I will describe how our results indicate, for a wide range of disk masses, that low energy stellar cosmic rays provide an important source of ionisation at the disk midplane at large radii (∼70 au). Finally, I will discuss the type of systems where we expect that stellar cosmic rays are likely to be most influential.

The study of protoplanetary disks has become increasingly important with the Kepler satellite finding that exoplanets are ubiquitous around stars in our galaxy and the discovery of enormous diversity in planetary system architectures and planet properties. High-resolution near-IR and ALMA images show strong evidence for ongoing planet formation in young disks. The JWST MIRI mid-INfrared Disk Survey (MINDS) aims to (1) investigate the chemical inventory in the terrestrial planet-forming zone across stellar spectral type, (2) follow the gas evolution into the disk dispersal stage, and (3) study the structure of protoplanetary and debris disks in the thermal mid-IR. The MINDS survey will thus build a bridge between the chemical inventory of disks and the properties of exoplanets. The survey comprises 52 targets (Herbig Ae stars, T Tauri stars, very low-mass stars and young debris disks). We primarily obtain MIRI/MRS spectra with high signal-to-noise ratio (∼100–500) covering the complete wavelength range from 4.9 to 27.9 μm. For a handful of selected targets we also obtain NIRSpec IFU high resolution spectroscopy (2.87–5.27 μm). We will search for signposts of planet formation in thermal emission of micron-sized dust—information complementary to near-IR scattered light emission from small dust grains and emission from large dust in the submillimeter wavelength domain. We will also study the spatial structure of disks in three key systems that have shown signposts for planet formation, TW Hya and HD 169142 using the MIRI coronagraph at 15.5 μm and 10.65 μm respectively and PDS 70 using NIRCam imaging in the 1.87 μm narrow and the 4.8 μm medium band filter. We provide here an overview of the MINDS survey and showcase the power of the new JWST mid-IR molecular spectroscopy with the TW Hya disk spectrum where we report the detection of the molecular ion CH 3 + and the robust confirmation of HCO⁺ earlier detected with Spitzer.