The Republic of Armenia announced on July 18 that Princeton astrophysicist Adam Burrows is one of three recipients of the Viktor Ambartsumian International Science Prize for his seminal and pioneering contributions to the theories of brown dwarfs and exoplanets and for his leadership role in educating a generation of scientists at the frontiers of brown dwarf and exoplanet research.

He shares the award with Alexander Szalay of Johns Hopkins University and Isabelle Baraffe of the University of Exeter in England and the Lyon Center for Astrophysics Research in France.

Adams work has explored the boundary between what we call a star and a planet, which has informed a huge range of discoveries of planets orbiting other stars," said Michael Strauss, chair of the Department of Astrophysical Sciences. "It is wonderful to see this seminal work recognized with this prize.

Burrows, a professor of astrophysical sciences at Princeton, is also the director of the Princeton Planets and Life Certificate Programs and a 1975 alumnus in physics. His primary research interests are supernova theory, exoplanet and brown dwarf theory, planetary atmospheres, computational astrophysics, and nuclear astrophysics.

Well-known as a pioneer in the theory of exoplanets, brown dwarfs and supernovae, Burrows has collaborated with more than 250 co-authors on more than 350 papers. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of the American Physical Society, and the recipient of many other awards and honors.

The Viktor Ambartsumian International Science Prize is awarded every two years to outstanding scientists from any nation who have made a significant contribution in physics or mathematics. The laureates receive a medal and share a financial award equivalent to $300,000, of which $100,000 is earmarked to develop astronomy, astrophysics, physics and mathematics in Armenia over the next two years.

The award ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 18, 2020.

The Viktor Ambartsumian International Science Prize is awarded every two years by the Republic of Armenia.

Photo courtesy of the Republic of Armenia

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Astrophysicist Adam Burrows wins international prize for brown dwarf and exoplanet research - Princeton University

How old is the universe? This question has baffled astrophysicists for many decades. The universe cannot be younger than the oldest thing we can find in it offers a clue to the answer.

In order to estimate the universe's age scientists have been observing ancient stars and measuring the expansion of the universe. Researchers have analysed relic radiation left over from the big bang that falls on Earth from every direction.

New scientific measurements have suggested the universe may be hundreds of millions of years younger than previously estimated.

Research published in a series of papers by an international team of astrophysicists, including Prof Neelima Sehgal, from Stony Brook University, suggest the universe is about 13.8 billion years old. By using observations from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) in Chile, their findings match the measurements of the Planck satellite data of the same ancient light.

The ACT research team is an international collaboration of scientists from 41 institutions in seven countries. The Stony Brook team from the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences, led by Professor Sehgal, plays an essential role in analyzing the cosmic microwave background (CMB)the afterglow light from the Big Bang.

"In Stony Brook-led work we are restoring the 'baby photo' of the universe to its original condition, eliminating the wear and tear of time and space that distorted the image," explains Professor Sehgal, a co-author on the papers. "Only by seeing this sharper baby photo or image of the universe, can we more fully understand how our universe was born."

Obtaining the best image of the infant universe, explains Professor Sehgal, helps scientists better understand the origins of the universe, how we got to where we are on Earth, the galaxies, where we are going, how the universe may end, and when that ending may occur.

The ACT team estimates the age of the universe by measuring its oldest light. Other scientific groups take measurements of galaxies to make universe age estimates.

The new ACT estimate on the age of the universe matches the one provided by the standard model of the universe and measurements of the same light made by the Planck satellite. This adds a fresh twist to an ongoing debate in the astrophysics community, says Simone Aiola, first author of one of the new papers on the findings posted to arXiv.org.

"Now we've come up with an answer where Planck and ACT agree," says Aiola, a researcher at the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Astrophysics in New York City. "It speaks to the fact that these difficult measurements are reliable."

In 2019, a research team measuring the movements of galaxies calculated that the universe is hundreds of millions of years younger than the Planck team predicted. That discrepancy suggested that a new model for the universe might be needed and sparked concerns that one of the sets of measurements might be incorrect.

The age of the universe also reveals how fast the cosmos is expanding, a number quantified by the Hubble constant. The ACT measurements suggest a Hubble constant of 67.6 kilometers per second per megaparsec. That means an object 1 megaparsec (around 3.26 million light-years) from Earth is moving away from us at 67.6 kilometers per second due to the expansion of the universe. This result agrees almost exactly with the previous estimate of 67.4 kilometers per second per megaparsec by the Planck satellite team, but it's slower than the 74 kilometers per second per megaparsec inferred from the measurements of galaxies.

"We find an expansion rate that is right on the estimate by the Planck satellite team. This gives us more confidence in measurements of the universe's oldest light," said Steve Choi of Cornell University in another paper posted to arXiv.org

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Cosmic background light confirms the age of the universe - THE WEEK

Credit: CERN

Scientists at CERN, including experts from the University of Birmingham, have reported on their first significant evidence for a process predicted by theory. The findings pave the way for searches for evidence of new physics in particle processes that could explain dark matter and other mysteries of the universe.

The CERN NA62 collaboration, which is part-funded by the UKs Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and involves a number of UK scientists, presented at the ICHEP 2020 conference in Prague the first significant experimental evidence for the ultra-rare decay of the charged kaon into a charged pion and two neutrinos, (i.e.K+ + ).

The decay process is important in cutting-edge physics research because it is so sensitive to deviations from theoretical predictions. This means that it is one of the most interesting things to observe for physicists looking for evidence to supports alternative theoretical model in particle physics.

Professor Mark Thomson, particle physicist and Executive Chair of STFC, said that this was exciting progress because the result shows how precise measurements of this process could lead to new physics, beyond the Standard Model of particle physics developed in the 1970s:

The Standard Model describes the fundamental forces and building blocks of the universe. It is a highly successful theory, but there are several mysteries of the universe that the Standard Model does not explain, such as the nature of dark matter and the origins of the matterantimatter imbalance in the universe.

Physicists have been searching for theoretical extensions to the Standard Model. Measurements of ultra-rare processes provide an exciting avenue for exploring these possibilities, with the hope of discovering new physics beyond the Standard Model.

The UK participants in this research are from the Universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow and Lancaster, and have been funded by STFC which is part of UK Research and Innovation, as well as by the Royal Society and the European Research Council (ERC).

The NA62 experiment has been designed and constructed, with a significant UK contribution, specifically for measurement of these ultra-rare kaon decays, from kaons produced by a unique high-intensity proton beam provided by the CERN accelerator complex. The kaons are created by colliding high-energy protons from CERNs Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) into a stationary beryllium target. This creates a beam of secondary particles which contains and propagates almost one billion particles per second, about 6% of which are kaons. The main aim of NA62 is to measure precisely how the charged kaon particle decays into a pion and a neutrinoantineutrino pair. The UK has a strong leading role in the K+ + decay analysis.

The decay process is important in cutting-edge physics research because it is so sensitive to deviations from theoretical predictions. This means that it is one of the most interesting things to observe for physicists looking for evidence to supports alternative theoretical model in particle physics.

Professor Mark Thomson, particle physicist and Executive Chair of STFC, said that this was exciting p decay analysis.

This kaon decay process is called the golden channel because of the combination of being both ultra-rare and excellently predicted in the Standard Model. It is very difficult to capture and holds real promise for scientists searching for new physics, explains Professor Cristina Lazzeroni, Particle Physicist at the University of Birmingham, and spokesperson for NA62.

This is the first time we have been able to obtain significant experimental evidence for this decay process. It is an exciting moment because it is a fundamental step towards capturing the precise measurement of the decay and identifying possible deviations from the Standard Model.

In turn, this will enable us to find new ways of understanding our universe. The instruments and techniques developed in the NA62 experiment will lead to the next generation of rare kaon decays experiments."

The new result measured to a 30% precision, gives the most precise measurement to date of this process. The result is consistent with the Standard Model expectation, but still leaves room for the existence of new particles.

More data is needed to reach a definitive conclusion on the presence or not of new physics. [Please see Editors notes for a more detailed description of the result.]

STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellow Dr Giuseppe Ruggiero from Lancaster University has been the leading analyst for this measurement since 2016, and helped to create the experiment. He said:

Analysing the data from the experiment posed a real challenge. We had to suppress a huge amount of unwanted data, by about one thousand billion times. And we had to do this without losing the tiny signal that we wanted to detect. This is much more challenging that finding a needle in a million haystacks! We used a method called blind analysis technique. So called, because the analysis is done without looking in the region, or blind box, where the signal is supposed to be.

STFC also funded two Ernest Rutherford Fellowships, one at the University of Liverpool and then Lancaster, and one at the University of Birmingham. In addition, three doctoral students at the University of Birmingham received support from STFC and one is now working as a postdoctoral researcher on the project. All five early-career physicists have worked on the project.

The data used in the research was taken between 20162018 at the CERNs Prevessin site, in France, and the research involves over 200 scientists from 31 institutions. A new period of data taking will start in 2021 and will allow the NA62 collaboration to put a more definite answer on the question of new physics.

For media enquiries please contact Beck Lockwood, Press Office, University of Birmingham, tel: +44 (0)781 3343348.

The findings

The new result comes from a detailed analysis of the complete NA62 data set collected so far, corresponding to exposure of 61012 kaon decays. Because the process being measured is so rare, the team had to be particularly careful not to do anything that might bias the result. For that reason, the experiment was carried out as a blind analysis, where physicists initially only look at the background to check that their understanding of the various sources is correct.

Only once they are satisfied with that, they look at the region of the data where the signal is expected to be; this is called blind analysis. Following a blind analysis, seventeen K+ + candidates are observed in the main dataset collected in 2018, revealing a significant excess over the expected background of only 5.3 events.

This excess leads to the first evidence for this process (with a statistical significance above the three sigma level). The decay rate, measured to a 30% precision, gives the most precise measurement to date of this process. The result is consistent with the Standard Model expectation, but still leaves room for new physics effects. More data are needed to reach a definitive conclusion on the presence or not of new physics.

The probability for this process to happen, called branching ratio, for the ultra-rare K+ + decay is very small and predicted within Standard Model of particle physics to a high precision: (8.4 1.0)1011. This leads to exceptional sensitivity to the possible phenomena beyond the Standard Model description, making this decay a golden mode, i.e. one of the most interesting observables at the precision frontier of particle physics. The experimental study is however extremely challenging due to the tiny rate, a neutrino pair in the final state, and huge potential background processes. Due to its characteristics, the NA62 experiment has excellent sensitivity to a variety of rare kaon decays and exotic processes.

More information

The NA62 collaboration is preparing to collect an even larger dataset in 202124, when the CERN SPS will restart operation, taking data at a higher beam intensity with an improved beam line and detector setup. The next target is a five sigma observation of the K+ + .

The decay process is important in cutting-edge physics research because it is so sensitive to deviations from theoretical predictions. This means that it is one of the most interesting things to observe for physicists looking for evidence to supports alternative theoretical model in particle physics.

Professor Mark Thomson, particle physicist and Executive Chair of STFC, said that this was exciting p decay, followed by a measurement of the decay rate to a 10% precision, thereby providing a powerful independent test the Standard Model of particle physics. The horizon of a new physics programme with a sensitivity to decay rates well below the 10T11 level is now in sight.

For the longer term future, a high-intensity kaon beam programme is starting to take shape, with prospects to measure the K+ + decay to a few % precision, to address the analogous decay of the neutral kaon, KL 0 , and to reach extreme sensitivities to a large variety of rare kaon decays which are complimentary to investigations in the beauty quark sector.

The NA62 Experiment

Building on a long tradition of research into matter-antimatter asymmetry carried out in experiments NA31 and NA48, NA62 is examining the decay of kaons, and one type in particular where a kaon decays into a pion and two neutrinos. The Standard Model, the theory that underpins particle physics, gives a precise prediction of the frequency of this decay type.Itsaveryrareoccurrence,butlooking closely at these rare processes is essential for exploring physics beyond the Standard Model. In fact, this particular kaon decay is so unusual that an experiment at Brookhaven, USA only recorded three incidences in an experiment specifically set up to look for it. The technique that NA62 is going to use observing decay in flight has never been done anywhere before.

CERN

CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, is one of the world's leading laboratories for particle physics. The Organisation is located on the French-Swiss border, with its headquarters in Geneva. Its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Cyprus and Slovenia are Associate Member States in the pre-stage to Membership. Croatia, India, Lithuania, Pakistan, Turkey and Ukraine are Associate Member States. The European Union, Japan, JINR, the Russian Federation, UNESCO and the United States of America currently have Observer status.

CERN is home to the largest particle collider in the world, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In 2012, CERN confirmed the discovery of the Higgs boson, the last missing piece of the Standard Model of particle physics, nearly 50 years after its original prediction.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) & CERN

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), part of UK Research and Innovation, co-ordinates and manages the UKs involvement and subscription with CERN. The UKs influence on both CERN Council and CERN Finance Committee is coordinated through the UK Committee on CERN (UKCC).

UK membership of CERN gives our physicists and engineers access to the experiments and allows UK industry to bid for contracts, UK nationals to compete for jobs and research positions at CERN, and UK schools and teachers to visit. UK scientists hold many key roles at CERN. Firms in the UK win contracts for work at CERN worth millions of pounds each year. The impact of winning contracts is often even greater as it enables companies to win business elsewhere.

STFC also funds and supports research in particle and nuclear physics, astronomy, gravitational research and astrophysics, and space science and also operates a network of five national laboratories, including the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the Daresbury Laboratory, as well as supporting UK research at a number of international research facilities including CERN, FERMILAB, the ESO telescopes in Chile and many more. @STFC_Matters

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NA62 experiment at CERN reports first evidence for ultra-rare process that could lead to new physics - University of Birmingham

July 29 (UPI) Assembly on the worlds largest nuclear fusion project began Tuesday in France as a coalition of 35 countries seeks to replicate the reactions that power the sun to generate clean energy.

The approximately $23 billion International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, is expected to be assembled by 2025 when it is expected to become the first to achieve a burning of self-heating plasma that can generate 10 times more heat than is originally provided.

Constructing the machine piece-by-piece will be like assembling a three-dimensional puzzle on an intricate timeline and with the precision of a Swiss watch, ITER director-general Bernard Bigot said.

Millions of components, including 3,000 tons of superconducting magnets and more than 100 miles of superconducting cables, will be combined to assemble the reactor that will weigh 23,000 tons.

Nuclear fusion releases significant amounts of energy, while the process does not produce carbon dioxide and, unlike nuclear fission reactors, cannot melt down and produce less radioactive waste.

Scientists have successfully achieved fusion, but it has only been done for short periods of time and has not produced more energy than needed to make the fusion reaction occur.

Delivering fusion energy for humanity is far from easy. It requires combining the scientific knowledge of astrophysics with the technical know-how of nuclear power engineering, Michael Mauel, a professor of applied physics at Columbia University, told CBS News.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe praised the project as a move toward addressing the climate crisis.

I believe disruptive innovation will play a key role in addressing global issues, including climate change and realizing a sustainable carbon-free society, said Abe.

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Assembly begins on worlds largest nuclear fusion reactor - Gephardt Daily

Singularities also known as black holes are so powerful that even light cannot escape their grasp. But what happens when ablack hole meets something even stronger, like a wormhole?

We know a black hole would win in a fight against Godzilla, Earths yellow sun, and even the entire Milky Way. But a wormhole? Thats a tall order. Sure, wormholes are only hypothetical so theyre at a disadvantage against black holes which weve actually observed. However that might be the black holes only advantage.

Where a black hole is like a kitchen sink with a drain to nowhere, a wormhole is a theoretical bridge between two universes or two distant places within the same universe. If wormholes exist, and it were possible to traverse them, you could fly a spaceship into one side and near-instantly pop out on the other side where you could be in a completely different universe.

Essentially they both suck, but what we want to know is which one sucks harder. Luckily for us a team of researchers from Vanderbilt University in Tennesee and Sam Houston State University in Texas have done the hard work for us.

In a pre-print paper on the astrophysics section of arXiv, the team writes:

In this paper, we model the inspiral of a stellar mass black hole into a stable, non-spinning, traversable wormhole, and find a characteristic waveform an anti-chirp and/or burst as the black hole emerges.

In other words: they modeled what would happen if a black hole and a wormhole got into it and the answer isnt as cut-and-dry as you might think.

Black holes arent just big, even forces of gravity. The further you are from their center, the less pull they exhibit. Wormholes work pretty similar so it stands to reason that if you got two of them in the same general location theyd feel each other out a bit before they start grappling. The scientists write:

The initial inspiral of the BH looks to an observer in Universe 1 like a typical BH-BH inspiral and merger with a normal GW chirp until the BH reaches the throat at 3MWH.

Basically, if you were watching on a fancy telescope that picks up distant radio waves, this would look like two black holes about to Tango.

Now were seeing the difference between a black hole and a wormhole. The black hole starts to pass into the throat of the wormhole and physics get funky. Per the researchers:

At that point the BH passes through the throat into Universe 2 and the gravitational wave signature in Universe 1 fades quickly as the BH is now radiating predominantly into Universe 2. An observer in Universe 3 sees a very strong signal that decreases in amplitude and frequency, an anti-chirp, until the BH reaches apogee and falls back into the WH.

Victory looks certain as the wormhole appears to have entirely swallowed the black hole. We expect the black hole will emerge on the other side of the wormhole, but theres a plot twist. According to the researchers, at the very moment the black hole should pass it gets spat back out into universe one:

The frequency reaches a maximum again at the throat as it passes from Universe 2 to 1, and the process repeats with chirps resulting from the inspiral BH trajectories and anti-chirps from outspiral BHs.

If the teams models are correct, a head-on collision between a black hole and a wormhole should result in a tie with the wormhole maintaining the upper hand. The wormhole gets the takedown, but the blackhole earns an escape. In the end, the wormhole takes the match in a split decision.

That is, of course, only if you apply MMA rules. The astrophysicists were mostly interested in coming up with a way to detect wormholes in order to prove their existence, so its unclear whether or not theyve considered the combat sports aspect of their research.

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Here's what would happen if a wormhole fought a black hole - The Next Web

Forty years ago this month, I had just finished reading Carl Sagans book, "The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence," a book for which he earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1978. The David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences from 1976 to his death in 1996, Sagan was a famous scientist of many fields relating to the universe: astronomy, planetary science, astrophysics, and astrobiology.

He became best known for his research on extraterrestrial life. He was the author, co-author, or editor of over 600 scientific papers and over 20 books. He narrated and co-wrote the award-winning television series: Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.

As the sub-title suggests, Sagan takes the reader on a wonderful and stimulating journey around the brains of our ancestorshuman and non-humanand our brains today. He then speculates on the growth of our intelligence by explaining the various parts of our brain, their functions, and why we think, speak, act, and even dream the way we do.

The book is magisterial in its scope, its composition, and its readability. He casts a wide net in quoting from the ancients, like Plato and Aristotle, and important writers and thinkers of the past five centuries, like John Milton, William Shakespeare, Charles Darwin, Henry David Thoreau, and Sigmund Freud.

Among other things, the book gave me the gift of wonder. Many times throughout Sagan brings the reader to a certain point and then, he "wonders." In his section dealing with human emotions, he wonders: "Do horses on occasion have glimmerings of patriotic fervor? Do dogs feel for humans something akin to religious ecstasy? What other strong or subtle emotions are felt by animals that do not communicate with us?"

He wonders: "Are our nighttime dreams of flying and daytime passions for flight nostalgic reminiscences of those days gone by in the branches of the high forest?"

In his section on the competition among early hominids and humans, he wonders: "I sometimes wonder whether our myths about gnomes, trolls, giants, and dwarfs could possibly a genetic or cultural memory of those times."

Upon reading the book in 1980, I was so moved that I wrote him a long letter. Six months later, he wrote back and asked me two questions. The first: "What would be necessary to make the reader [of a possible book on international relations] consider not just what is best for one nation or power group in a single nation, but for the human species as a whole? I never answered him; this is my answer.

Dear Professor Sagan: This possible book would have to deal with how the world political system works and would therefore have to deal with the two major theories of the system. A theory or model of the system is necessary, as in your work, because the system is complicated with many moving parts and unknowns. It does not conform to a clear and definitive set of mathematical equations which exist, for example, in astrophysics or planetary science.

My own definition of "theory" is: a set of assumptions and descriptive statements about a field of study which explain and predict behavior. When I say "explain," I mean that it must deal with the "Why?" the causality, of things. Leonardo Da Vinci said: "He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards a ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast."

The two major theories in world politics are: realism and liberalism. In very simple terms, political realism views the world political system as anarchy with no fixed, agreed-upon rules and no over-arching government or "watchman." States are the most important actors, not humans or international organizations. In this environment, states are compelled to look after their own interests. They do this by seeking power and influence. Virtues, such as kindness and generosity, may be laudable for individuals, but they should have no place in a states decision-making. They will get you into trouble.

Political liberalism, on the other hand, emphasizes the unity and goodness of humankind. States may be the most important actors, but individuals make decisions for states, and they can make a difference. While it accepts that the system is one of anarchy, it has faith in people and in diplomacy to create institutions and to establish rules to lessen inequality and the use of violence to settle disputes.

You can see, Professor Sagan, that you and I both hope that more states conform and adhere to the principles of liberalism.

(Note: Stay tuned for Part II and Part III.)

Fred Zilian (zilianblog.com; Twitter: @FredZilian) is an adjunct professor of history and politics at Salve Regina University and a regular columnist.

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LOOKING BACK AT OUR HISTORY: A conversation with Carl Sagan, part I - newportri.com

The National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) has its hands full: while gearing up for the historic launch of rover Perseverance towards Mars tomorrow, the agency has announced its intention tosend off an enormous balloon the size of a football field into Earth's stratosphere to learn about the stars, the planets, the way our galaxy formed and more in 2023. Yes, we're excited.

To be specific, the 400-feet-wide balloon will be equipped with a far-infrared telescope and a gondola filled with scientific instrumentsall materials that will allow it to record the kind of data scientists are looking for. Once the mission is complete, all the instruments will be parachuted back to Earth and the balloon will be set free.

The operation is dubbed Astrophysics Stratospheric Telescope for High Spectral Resolution Observations at Submillimeter-wavelengths (ASTHROS) and is scheduled to leave from Antarctica in December 2023 andloop around the South Pole for three full weeks.

"Balloon missions like ASTHROS are higher-risk than space missions but yield high-rewards at modest cost," says JPL engineer Jose Siles, project manager for ASTHROS, in an official press release announcing the mission. "With ASTHROS, we're aiming to do astrophysics observations that have never been attempted before. The mission will pave the way for future space missions by testing new technologies and providing training for the next generation of engineers and scientists."

In case you thought you'd be ale to look up and catch a glimpse of the giant thing, think again: the balloon will hover right below the edge of space, at about 130,000 feet in altitude. To put things in perspective, that's four times higher than your average commercial plane.

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NASA will send a balloon the size of a football field into the sky in the near future - Time Out

The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) aboard ESAs ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has spotted never-before-seen spectral signatures of ozone and carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere.

ESAs ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter at Mars. Image credit: D. Ducros / ESA.

The atmosphere of Mars is dominated by carbon dioxide, which scientists observe to gauge temperatures, track seasons, explore air circulation, and more.

Ozone, which forms a layer in the upper atmosphere on both Mars and Earth, helps to keep atmospheric chemistry stable.

Both carbon dioxide and ozone have been seen at Mars by spacecraft such as ESAs Mars Express, but the exquisite sensitivity of the ACS instrument was able to reveal new details about how these gases interact with light.

These features are both puzzling and surprising, said Dr. Kevin Olsen, a researcher at the University of Oxford.

They lie over the exact wavelength range where we expected to see the strongest signs of methane.

Before this discovery, the carbon dioxide feature was completely unknown, and this is the first time ozone on Mars has been identified in this part of the infrared wavelength range.

This graph shows an example of the measurements made by the Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) on ESAs ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, featuring the spectral signatures of carbon dioxide (CO2) and ozone (O3). The bottom panel shows the data (blue) and a best-fit model (orange). The top panel shows the modeled contributions from a variety of different gases for this spectral range. The deepest lines come from water vapor (light blue). The strongest O3 feature (green) is on the right, and distinct CO2 lines (gray) appear on the left. The locations of strong methane features (orange) are also shown in the modeled contributions, though methane is not observed in the TGO data. Image credit: Olsen et al, doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202038125.

One of the key objectives of TGO is to explore methane. While also generated by geological processes, most of the methane on Earth is produced by life, from bacteria to livestock and human activity.

Detecting methane on other planets is therefore hugely exciting. This is especially true given that the gas is known to break down in around 400 years, meaning that any methane present must have been produced or released in the relatively recent past.

Discovering an unforeseen carbon dioxide signature where we hunt for methane is significant, said Dr. Alexander Trokhimovskiy, a scientist at the Space Research Institute.

This signature could not be accounted for before, and may therefore have played a role in detections of small amounts of methane at Mars.

The new findings enable us to build a fuller understanding of our planetary neighbor, he added.

Ozone and carbon dioxide are important in Mars atmosphere. By not accounting for these gases properly, we run the risk of mischaracterizing the phenomena or properties we see.

Mars is about half the size of Earth by diameter and has a much thinner atmosphere, with an atmospheric volume less than 1% of Earths. The atmospheric composition is also significantly different: primarily carbon dioxide-based, while Earths is rich in nitrogen and oxygen. The atmosphere has evolved: evidence on the surface suggests that Mars was once much warmer and wetter. Understanding if life could have ever existed in such conditions is one of the hot topics of Mars exploration. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter is capable of sniffing out the composition of the planets trace gases, which make up less than 1% by volume of a planets atmosphere, in minute amounts. Although making up a very small amount of the overall atmospheric inventory, methane in particular holds key clues to the planets current state of activity. On Earth, living organisms release much of the planets methane. It is also the main component of naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas reservoirs, and a contribution is also provided by volcanic and hydrothermal activity. Because of the key role natural biology plays in Earths methane production, confirming the existence of methane on Mars, and distinguishing between its potential sources, is a top priority of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Image credit: ESA.

Additionally, the surprising discovery of the new carbon dioxide band at Mars, never before observed in the lab, provides exciting insight for those studying how molecules interact both with one another and with light and searching for the unique chemical fingerprints of these interactions in space.

Together, these two studies take a significant step towards revealing the true characteristics of Mars: towards a new level of accuracy and understanding, Dr. Trokhimovskiy said.

The results were published in two papers in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

_____

K.S. Olsen et al. 2020. First detection of ozone in the mid-infrared at Mars: implications for methane detection. A&A 639, A141; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202038125

A. Trokhimovskiy et al. 2020. First observation of the magnetic dipole CO2 absorption band at 3.3 m in the atmosphere of Mars by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter ACS instrument. A&A 639, A142; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202038134

This article is based on a press-release provided by the European Space Agency.

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ESA's Trace Gas Orbiter Detects Ozone and Carbon Dioxide in Atmosphere of Mars | Planetary Science, Space Exploration - Sci-News.com