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Juno Jupiter image

Richard Chatterjee

Graduate student

Research theme

  • Climate physics
  • Exoplanets and planetary physics

Sub department

  • Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics

Research groups

  • Planetary Climate Dynamics
richard.chatterjee@physics.ox.ac.uk
Atmospheric Physics Clarendon Laboratory, room 206
  • About
  • Teaching
  • Publications

JWST NIRISS Transmission Spectroscopy of the Super-Earth GJ 357b, a Favourable Target for Atmospheric Retention

ArXiv 2505.24462 (2025)

Authors:

Jake Taylor, Michael Radica, Richard D Chatterjee, Mark Hammond, Tobias Meier, Suzanne Aigrain, Ryan J MacDonald, Loic Albert, Björn Benneke, Louis-Philippe Coulombe, Nicolas B Cowan, Lisa Dang, René Doyon, Laura Flagg, Doug Johnstone, Lisa Kaltenegger, David Lafrenière, Stefan Pelletier, Caroline Piaulet-Ghorayeb, Jason F Rowe, Pierre-Alexis Roy
More details from the publisher
Details from ArXiV

Self-limited tidal heating and prolonged magma oceans in the L 98-59 system

(2025)

Authors:

Harrison Nicholls, Claire Marie Guimond, Hamish CFC Hay, Richard D Chatterjee, Tim Lichtenberg, Raymond T Pierrehumbert
Details from ArXiV

The Cosmic Shoreline Revisited: A Metric for Atmospheric Retention Informed by Hydrodynamic Escape

arXiv:2504.19872 [astro-ph.EP]

Authors:

Xuan Ji, Richard D. Chatterjee, Brandon Park Coy, Edwin S. Kite

Abstract:

The "cosmic shoreline", a semi-empirical relation that separates airless worlds from worlds with atmospheres as proposed by Zahnle & Catling (2017), is now guiding large-scale JWST surveys aimed at detecting rocky exoplanet atmospheres. We expand upon this framework by revisiting the shorelines using existing hydrodynamic escape models applied to Earth-like, Venus-like, and steam atmospheres for rocky exoplanets, and we estimate energy-limited escape rates for CH4 atmospheres. We determine the critical instellation required for atmospheric retention by calculating time-integrated atmospheric mass loss. Our analysis introduces a new metric for target selection in the Rocky Worlds DDT and refines expectations for rocky planet atmosphere searches in Cycle 4. Exploring initial volatile inventory ranging from 0.01% to 1% of planetary mass, we find that its variation prevents the definition of a unique clear-cut shoreline, though non-linear escape physics can reduce this sensitivity to initial conditions. Additionally, uncertain distributions of high-energy stellar evolution and planet age further blur the critical instellations for atmospheric retention, yielding broad shorelines. Hydrodynamic escape models find atmospheric retention is markedly more favorable for higher-mass planets orbiting higher-mass stars, with carbon-rich atmospheres remaining plausible for 55 Cancri e despite its extreme instellation. Dedicated modeling efforts are needed to better constrain the escape dynamics of secondary atmospheres, such as the role of atomic line cooling, especially for Earth-sized planets. Finally, we illustrate how density measurements can be used to statistically test the existence of the cosmic shorelines, emphasizing the need for more precise mass and radius measurements.
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Full PDF text
Details from ArXiV

The Cosmic Shoreline Revisited: A Metric for Atmospheric Retention Informed by Hydrodynamic Escape

ArXiv 2504.19872 (2025)

Authors:

Xuan Ji, Richard D Chatterjee, Brandon Park Coy, Edwin S Kite
Details from ArXiV

Exoplanetary Ionospheric Temperatures on the Edge of Airlessness

Copernicus Publications (2025)

Authors:

Richard D Chatterjee, Sarah Blumenthal, Raymond T Pierrehumbert
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