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TITLE: Atmospheres of alien worlds: challenges and opportunities with transmission spectroscopy of extrasolar planets

SPEAKER: Dr. Neale Gibson (Trinity College Dublin

The University of Dublin)

ABSTRACT:

Radial velocity and transit surveys have revealed a large and diverse population of exoplanets in our Galaxy, but to truly understand them we need spectra of their atmospheres. Transiting planets allow such measurements via transmission spectroscopy, which has been a very active field of research over the last decade. This technique promises to enable large scale surveys of gas-giant exoplanets, revealing new insights into extreme atmospheric physics and planet formation, as well as the first observations of terrestrial planet atmospheres using next-generation facilities. However, despite substantial improvements in observational techniques and analysis methods, our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres remains limited by our ability to understand and model instrumental systematics in time-series observations. In this talk, I will introduce the main techniques required to probe exoplanet atmospheres, as well as discuss the main limitations and our efforts to circumvent them with advanced statistical modelling, in particular by treating systematics as stochastic processes. In addition I will present some recent results, highlighting the progress and remaining questions in the field.