[Baps] PLS 3/19 - Sara Vannah

[Isaac Narrett]

Hello all,
We’re excited to announce that next week’s planetary seminar will feature Sara Vannah from Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER). Please find her abstract below. Join us on Tuesday March 19th at 12:30 PM in 54-517 or on Zoom. Lunch will be provided and we encourage you to arrive a bit early to get food.

Talk details and Zoom information are below. We hope to see you there!

-Isaac

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Title: Information theory as a tool in the search for life on exoplanets



Abstract: JWST and a host of upcoming missions promise a critical leap in the search for other life in the Universe. The massive improvement in the quantity and quality of exoplanet observations these instruments will bring accelerates the need for a minimally assumptive technique to search for signs of life on these planets. In this seminar, I will introduce a diagnostic tool that uses information theory to search for signatures of Earth-analogue planets. I will discuss results from testing the tool on a series of simulated Earth models in different contexts – with different temperature host stars and through three epochs in the evolution of life – demonstrating the ability of the method to trace the evolution of life on Earth. The method provides a quick, minimally assumptive diagnostic for assessing whether an exoplanet shows signs of habitability or even of extant life.

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Zoom link: https://mit.zoom.us/j/93069069393
PW: 54100

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