On the Habitable Lifetime of Terrestrial Worlds with High Radionuclide Abundances

Abstract

The presence of a liquid solvent is widely regarded as an essential prerequisite for habitability. We investigate the conditions under which worlds outside the habitable zones of stars are capable of supporting liquid solvents on their surface over geologically significant timescales via combined radiogenic and primordial heat. Our analysis suggests that super-Earths with radionuclide abundances that are $\gtrsim 10^3$ times higher than Earth can host long-lived water oceans. In contrast, the requirements for long-lived ethane oceans, which have been explored in the context of alternative biochemistries, are less restrictive: relative radionuclide abundances of $\gtrsim 10^2$ could be sufficient. We find that this class of worlds might be detectable ($10\sigma$ detection over $\sim 10$ days integration time at $12.8$ $\mu$m) in principle by the James Webb Space Telescope at distances of $\sim 10$ pc if their ages are $\lesssim 1$ Gyr.