General information
Organisation
The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) is a key player in research, development and innovation in four main areas :
• defence and security,
• nuclear energy (fission and fusion),
• technological research for industry,
• fundamental research in the physical sciences and life sciences.
Drawing on its widely acknowledged expertise, and thanks to its 16000 technicians, engineers, researchers and staff, the CEA actively participates in collaborative projects with a large number of academic and industrial partners.
The CEA is established in ten centers spread throughout France
Reference
SL-DRF-25-0451
Direction
DRF
Thesis topic details
Category
Corpuscular physics and outer space
Thesis topics
Disequilibrium chemistry of exoplanets’ high-metallicity atmospheres in JWST times
Contract
Thèse
Job description
In little more than two years of scientific operations, JWST has revolutionized our understanding of exoplanets and their atmospheres. The ARIEL space mission, to be launched in 2029, will soon contribute to this revolution. A main finding that has been enabled by the exquisite quality of the JWST data is that exoplanet atmospheres are in chemical disequilibrium. A full treatment of disequilibrium is complex, especially when the atmospheres are metal-rich, i.e. when they contain in significant abundances elements other than hydrogen and helium. In a first step, our project will numerically investigate the extent of chemical disequilibrium in the atmospheres of JWST targets suspected to have metal-rich atmospheres. We will use towards that end an in-house photochemical model. In a second step, our project will explore the effect of super-thermal chemistry as a driver of chemical disequilibrium. This will offer previously-unexplored insight into the chemistry of metal-rich atmospheres, with the potential to shed new light into the chemical and evolutionary paths of low-mass exoplanets.
University / doctoral school
Science de la Terre et de l’Environnement et Physique de l’Univers Paris (STEPUP)
Université de Paris
Thesis topic location
Site
Saclay
Requester
Person to be contacted by the applicant
Garcia Muñoz Antonio
antonio.garciamunoz@cea.fr
CEA
DRF/IRFU DAp/LDE3
DRF/IRFU/DAp/LDE3 CEA Saclay
CEA Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
Tutor / Responsible thesis director
Garcia Muñoz Antonio
antonio.garciamunoz@cea.fr
CEA
DRF/IRFU DAp/LDE3
DRF/IRFU/DAp/LDE3 CEA Saclay
CEA Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
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