Geoscience of Exoplanets Seminar

This course constitutes the seminar series Geoscience of Exoplanets for Astrophysicists, with a focus on geodynamics and planetary evolution.

The booming discovery of planets beyond our Solar System, known as exoplanets, motivates studies of their mass-radius relationship followed by more detailed characterization using atmospheric spectra. The spectra-informed chemistry is only about the (atmospheric) skin of an exoplanet, and what more can we say about the planetary interior by observing its skin? To this end, the next-level understanding of exoplanets hinges on translating our knowledge of Earth, i.e., geosciences, to the studies of exoplanets, particularly to the interactions between exoplanetary interior and atmosphere.

The course is roughly divided into the following 3 components:

• External guest lectures: in-depth coverage of subtopics that straddle geosciences and exoplanetary sciences.
• Internal guest lectures: to cover the basic concepts and principles in geosciences and astrophysics.
• Journal club (JC): to read and dissect classic or modern literature in geoscience that is of immediate relevance to exoplanets.

• Dr. J. Jaiswal (she/her) | Scientific Coordinator, Munich Center for Geoastronomy

• Schedule for Geoscience of Exoplanets Seminars (updated regularly)
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Geoscience covers a wide range of topics, and this course brings together those most relevant to exoplanet studies. Since no single textbook captures this breadth, we recommend the following three texts as comprehensive references.

1. Geochemistry (2nd Ed.). William M. White (2020). Wiley-Blackwell.
2. Principles of Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology (2nd Ed.). John D. Winter (2011). Pearson.
3. Geodynamics (3rd Ed.). Donald L. Turcotte, & Schubert, G. (2014). Cambridge University Press.
4. Fluid mechanics. Kundu, P. K., Cohen, I. M., & Dowling, D. R. (2012). Academic Press.
5. Mantle convection in the earth and planets. Schubert, G., Turcotte, D. L., & Olson, P. (2006). Cambridge University Press.
6. Hydrodynamic and hydromagnetic stability. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. (2006). Dover Publ

To get a score, each student needs to give a 30-min seminar talk summarizing a selected paper in the field, followed by a 15-min question and answer session.

Students can discuss individually with lecturers to select a paper for presentation.

Grading system

There is no written exam for this course. Instead, each student is graded on the reading of 1 or 2 peer-reviewed research papers and on how they summarize and critique the paper(s) in a 30-minute presentation. Following each 30-minute presentation, there is a 15-minute question and answer (Q&A) session. The goal is to assess the level of understanding. Depending on interest, a curated list of papers, as well as the PDF files, are provided (see Section IX). In most cases, the presentation is based on one paper, but in some cases, there may be two papers.

We will use the CERIC (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning, Implications, Context) system to dissect and understand the papers. This system will be briefly introduced in the first seminar session of the semester.

The possible categories of grades are defined below. In each category, the exact grade will be determined by:

• the clarity of the presentation,
• the skill of the presenter and
• the ability to address questions during the Q&A session.

Both lecturers will award grades and the average will be taken as the final grade

Grading scale

Grades will be awarded on a scale from 1.0 - 5.0, as follows:

• 1.0 or 1.3 (excellent/outstanding)
• 1.7 or 2.0 or 2.3 (clearly above the requirements)
• 2.7 or 3.0 or 3.3 (meets average requirements)
• 3.7 or 4.0 (just good enough to meet the requirements)
• 5.0 (serious shortcomings, does not meet the requirements)

Detailed information about the CERIC system and grading scale descriptions can be found under Section VIII. Course Assessment at: Geoscience of Exoplanets Seminars_Course Info_WiSe25-26

Paper selection

Each item below is one assignment. Each student should pick one assignment only and read the associated 1 or 2 referenced paper(s).

Presentation format

The student should prepare a 30-minute presentation based on the reading of these 1 or 2 paper(s). This will be followed by a 15-minute question and answer (Q&A) session.

Note: It is strongly recommended that each student consults the lecturers for advice on how to construct the presentation. This should be done at least a week in advance of when each student is scheduled to present.

Mass-Radius Relationship:

• Dorn et al. (2015): Bayesian statistics on top of mass-radius relation
• Rogers and Seager (2010): Mass-radius relationship bears degeneracies, anda framework of quantifying the degeneracies.
• Valencia et al. (2007): Radius and Structure Models of the First Super-Earth Planet.

Petrology and equilibrium thermodynamics:

• Schlichting and Young (2022): Chemical Equilibrium between Cores, Mantles, and Atmospheres of Super-Earths and Sub-Neptunes and Implications for Their Compositions, Interiors, and Evolution.
• Gaillard et al. (2022): A most recent study of planetary geochemical outgassing based on phase equilibrium.
• Doyle et al. (2019) + Putirka and Xu (2021): Constrain oxygen fugacities of extrasolar rocks using polluted white dwarfs data.
• Schaefer et al. (2012): Reverse to condensation, vaporization of Earth with its implications for exoplanetary atmospheres.

Elemental and isotopic geochemistry to constrain accretion:

• Kleine et al. (2002): Using Hf-W isotopes to constrain the formation of terrestrial planet cores and the Moon to be within 30 million years after birth of the Solar System.
• Sossi et al (2022): Earth’s “stochastic” accretion.
• Wang et al. (2018): Constrain Earth’s devolatilization trend, with application to exoplanet studies.
• Rubie et al (2011): Using element concentrations to constrain Earth’s accretion history.

A shared folder containing the lecture slides, journal club (JC) papers and the peer-reviewed papers listed, is available at the link below. Also contains a subfolder with various materials explaining the CERIC method for dissecting and understanding papers, which we recommend reading.

Geoscience of Exoplanets Seminars_Lecture Slides & JC Papers_WiSe26-27

(link is password protected - please contact organizer(s) for access)