Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: A planet's atmosphere, heated by starlight, can flow off as a wind, taking some gases and leaving others in unknown proportions. Yet this selection wrote the noble-gas records of the terrestrial planets, and decides which gases hot exoplanets keep. We solve this fractionated escape problem for arbitrary composition: a wind sorts gases only for secondary, hydrogen-poor atmospheres, and removes primary, hydrogen-rich atmospheres wholesale. The algebraic solution recovers every published formula as special cases. It provides a unified interpretation of atmospheric evolution across the Solar System and exoplanets. Fractionating argon on Mars stripped carbon while sparing krypton, Venus' retained argon constrains the wind intensity that removed its water, Earth's xenon record excludes a neutral wind. The same solution ranks the rocky exoplanets under JWST observation by the gases they can keep.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Attia, Mara, Lichtenberg, Tim
Institution: University of Groningen
Language: English
Topic: Astro and Planetary Science
Subfield: Space and Planetary Science
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: PRELIFE - Pathways, Reactions, and Environments leading to LIFE: An interdisciplinary approach., G6686480456, Charting the Evolution of Alien Worlds: Integrating Interior, Atmospheric, and Orbital Processes, G9000845538, Non-variant antigens of trypanosomes as potential target for vaccination
OpenAlex ID: W7204966835