Tracing the chemical evolution of super-Earth exoplanets

2026-07-22

The first low-mass exoplanet spectra from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have toppled previous understanding on their internal structure and phase state, suggesting that mixing between the deep planetary interior and atmosphere affects key observables. A newly emerging class of volatile-rich exoplanets, bridging the classes of super-Earths and sub-Neptunes, promises to enhance observational insights into atmosphere-interior feedbacks but requires novel models to interpret and predict observables to distinguish different scenarios. MagmaWorlds will chart the diverging evolutionary pathways of the emerging volatile-rich and volatile-poor super-Earth populations, and thus enable to trace the historical chemical evolution of super-Earth exoplanets. My team and I will build a numerical framework of the chemical evolution of super-Earth exoplanets, bridging the ultra-hot conditions of atmosphere-stripped lava worlds with the climate of temperate volatile-rich super-Earths. This will allow us to carry out targeted simulations for the most observationally accessible low-mass exoplanet population. We will develop self-consistent planetary evolution sequences over geologic time, spatially resolving how mixed-phase interior structure, liquid-solid tidal forcing, and species-fractionating escape from primary (H-He-rich) to secondary (C-N-S) to rock vapour (Si-Mg-Fe-Na) atmospheres affect present-day exoplanet observables. The MagmaWorlds project will deliver chemically and physically self-consistent spectra, C-H-N-S fractionation between interior and atmosphere, planet/star contrast ratio, transit/eclipse depth, and structural relations over billions of years that can be used to constrain the chemical evolutionary history of super-Earth exoplanets. The simulations will inform JWST, Ariel, and ELT observing proposals and the interpretation of observational data, opening time and internal chemical structure as new dimensions to inform and interpret exoplanet surveys.

Netherlands

2025-10-01