arXiv subjects

Yuka Fujii

Publications and source records attributed to Yuka Fujii.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Discovering and Characterising Exoplanets and Ultracool Dwarfs with the Square Kilometre Array

The majority of the Solar System planets are sources of bright radio emission, driven by energetic electrons trapped within each planet's magnetic field. Detection of this emission from exoplanets provides a unique opportunity to characterise their magnetic fields, which is key to determining the atmospheric evolution of exoplanets. However, a conclusive detection of radio emission from an exoplanet remains at large, primarily due to a lack of sensitivity at low radio frequencies. On the other hand, planet-like radio signatures have been detected on objects called ultracool dwarfs (UCDs) for over two decades. UCDs are of comparable sizes to Jupiter, but are more massive. They also possess similar interior structures to Jupiter, the region where magnetic fields are generated. Therefore, UCDs are ideal targets to study to advance our understanding of how magnetic fields manifest at planetary scales. In this Chapter, we outline the revolutionary role that the Square Kilometre Array will play in the study of exoplanets and UCDs. We anticipate that it will facilitate the first detection of radio emission from giant exoplanets with strong magnetic fields, and will deliver thousands of detections of UCDs within a few hundred parsecs. Combined with very long baseline interferometry, we also expect that astrometric monitoring will enable the detection of planets of a few Earth masses orbiting nearby radio-emitting UCDs. These findings will open a new window into how planets form and evolve in extrasolar systems.

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arXiv2026

White Paper on Phototrophic Biosignatures: Research Priorities for the Search for Life on Other Worlds

Photosynthesis is of prime interest in the telescopic search for life beyond the Solar System, because, on Earth, oxygenic photosynthesis produces two strong "biosignatures," global scale signs of life that can be seen from space: atmospheric oxygen and the Vegetation Red Edge (VRE). The VRE is the spectral reflectance signature of plant leaves, characterized by a step-like increase in reflectance from the red to the near-infrared. The absorption in the red is due to chlorophyll $\textit{a}$ (Chl $\textit{a}$). While Chl $\textit{a}$ dominates our planet, the Earth harbors diverse phototrophic organisms in niche environments possessing other pigments that produce edge-like spectral features across the UV-VIS-NIR, naturally suggesting diverse signatures that could be found on other planets where phototrophic life is adapted to other stars. However, the astrobiology community is very much at an early stage in its ability to constrain the probability that an observation of another planet has detected a sign of photosynthetic life. This white paper identifies critical research questions to advance to a predictive capability the search for phototrophic biosignatures. These questions pertain to the origins, key features, diversity, and potential for alternative adaptations in fundamental aspects of light harvesting; the electron transfer pathway in photosynthesis; rhodopsin-based proton-pumping; and carbon fixation. We discuss the need to constrain how evolution and ecology affect the scaling up of these molecular mechanisms to be potentially detectable by a direct imaging mission. The research questions and recommendations presented here are cross-linked to those posed by the NASA Astrobiology Strategy 2015, and to the Focus Areas of the upcoming NASA Decadal Astrobiology Exploration Strategy (DARES).

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arXiv2026

GREX-PLUS Science Book v2

GREX-PLUS (Galaxy Reionization EXplorer and PLanetary Universe Spectrometer) is a mission candidate for a JAXA strategic L-class mission to be launched in the 2030s. Its primary science goals are two-fold: galaxy formation and evolution, and planetary system formation and evolution. The GREX-PLUS spacecraft will carry a telescope with a 1 m primary mirror aperture cooled down to 50 K. The two science instruments will be onboard: a wide-field camera in the 2--8 $\mu$m wavelength band and a high-resolution spectrometer with a wavelength resolution of 30,000 in the 10--18 $\mu$m band. The GREX-PLUS wide-field camera aims to detect the first generation of galaxies at redshift $z>15$. The GREX-PLUS high-resolution spectrometer aims to identify the location of the water ``snowline'' in protoplanetary disks. Both instruments will provide unique datasets for a broad range of scientific topics, including galaxy mass assembly, the origin of supermassive blackholes, infrared background radiation, molecular spectroscopy in the interstellar medium, transit spectroscopy of exoplanet atmospheres, planetary atmospheres in the Solar System, and so on. This document is the second version of a collection of scientific themes that can be achieved with GREX-PLUS. Each section in Chapters~2 and 3 is based on presentations at several GREX-PLUS Science Workshops.

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arXiv2026

Revisiting the greenhouse effect of non-greenhouse gases in the atmospheres of Earth-like planets

Although non-greenhouse gases can vary substantially in abundance in Earth-like atmospheres, their climatic influences remain insufficiently understood. To investigate how such gases regulate climate, we vary the abundance of N$_2$ as a representative non-greenhouse component in one-dimensional N$_2$--CO$_2$--H$_2$O model atmospheres. Beyond pressure broadening of absorption lines and Rayleigh scattering emphasized in previous studies, our results show that changes in background N$_2$ pressure influence climate by modifying the amount of atmospheric H$_2$O, producing two effects: altering the thermodynamic lapse rate (H$_2$O-dilute warming) and changing the radiative contribution of H$_2$O to the greenhouse effect (H$_2$O-load warming). The resulting climate response to increasing N$_2$ depends on the CO$_2$ abundance. Under low CO$_2$ conditions, dilution of atmospheric H$_2$O leads to warming, whereas under high CO$_2$ conditions, increased H$_2$O loading also produces warming. At sufficiently high N$_2$ abundances, Rayleigh scattering induces cooling, an effect further amplified by the accompanying decrease in atmospheric H$_2$O. Under high CO$_2$ conditions, however, enhanced H$_2$O loading increases the absorption of stellar radiation and overwhelms the contribution of Rayleigh scattering, causing the cooling response to disappear. These results reveal multiple physical pathways through which non-greenhouse gases influence climate and provide a framework for understanding climate responses and habitability in diverse Earth-like atmospheres.

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arXiv2026

Tempawral: A Time-Resolved Retrieval Framework for Variable Brown Dwarfs and Exoplanets

Brown dwarfs and exoplanets are thought to host complex atmospheric phenomena such as clouds, storms, and chemical heterogeneity, akin to weather patterns on Earth. These features can produce pronounced spectral variability. Time-variability monitoring provides a unique window into surface inhomogeneities that cannot be directly resolved with foreseeable imaging technology. Current time-series analysis techniques have provided qualitative constraints on variability mechanisms but lack the ability to quantitatively estimate the extent of variation on atmospheric properties. We present Tempawral, the first data-driven time-resolved atmospheric retrieval framework that quantitatively retrieving variability in atmospheric parameters via an eigen-spectra inversion technique, leveraging the full spectra dataset. We validate this method on simulated time-series spectra of a variable brown dwarf, demonstrating that it successfully recovers key variability drivers, including inhomogeneous cloud coverage, evolving chemical abundances, and changes in temperature structure. We further showcase the utility of Tempawral by applying it to JWST/NIRISS-SOSS time-series observations of a highly variable T2.5 brown dwarf. The observed variability is best explained by a $\sim$300 K temperature perturbation near the 1-bar, accompanied by variations in the abundances of $\rm H_{2}O$, $\rm CO$, $\rm FeH$, as well as changes in the thickness of the iron cloud deck. This work provides a generalized framework for time-resolved atmospheric retrievals in the JWST era, enabling comprehensive interpretations of dynamic atmospheric processes in substellar objects.

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arXiv2026

On the synergetic use of Ariel and JWST for exoplanet atmospheric science

This paper explores the potential for strategic synergies between the JWST and the Ariel telescopes, two flagship observatories poised to revolutionise the study of exoplanet atmospheres. Both telescopes have the potential to address common fundamental questions about exoplanets-especially concerning their nature and origins-and serve a growing scientific community. With their operations now anticipated to overlap, starting from 2030, there is a unique opportunity to enhance the scientific outputs of both observatories through coordinated efforts. In this report, authored by the Ariel-JWST Synergy Working Group, part of the Ariel Consortium Science Team, we summarise the capabilities of JWST and Ariel; we highlight their key differences, similarities, synergies, and distinctive strengths. Ariel is designed to conduct a broad survey of exoplanet atmospheres but remains highly flexible, allowing the mission to integrate insights from JWST's discoveries. Findings from JWST, including data from initiatives shaped by NASA's decadal survey priorities and community-driven research themes, will inform the development of Ariel's core survey strategy. Conversely, Ariel's ability to perform broad-wavelength coverage observations for bright targets provides complementary avenues for exoplanet researchers, particularly those interested in time-domain observations and large-scale atmospheric studies. This paper identifies key pathways for fostering JWST-Ariel synergies, many of which can be initiated even before Ariel's launch. Leveraging their complementary designs and scopes, JWST and Ariel can jointly address fundamental questions about the nature, formation, and evolution of exoplanets. Such strategic collaboration has the potential to maximise the scientific returns of both observatories and lay the foundation for future facilities in the roadmap to exoplanet exploration.

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arXiv2026

Probing thermal gradients of habitable-zone rocky planets as an anti-indicator of a global surface ocean using mid-infrared direct imaging

Future direct-imaging missions such as the Large Interferometer for Exoplanets (LIFE) aim to observe thermal emission from potentially habitable planets to characterize their surface environments and search for signs of life. Previous studies of directly imaged Earth-like planets have mainly examined the signatures of atmospheric composition, often using 1D models, while the effect of horizontal temperature gradients has received limited attention. Because a pronounced horizontal temperature gradient may signal the absence of a global ocean, we investigate its detectability through thermal-emission direct imaging. Adopting Teegarden's Star b (zero-albedo equilibrium temperature ~280 K) as a benchmark, we compute 3D atmospheric structures with and without a global ocean using the ROCKE-3D general circulation model and simulate geometry-dependent thermal emission spectra. We show that the temperature gradients that disfavor a global-ocean scenario manifest in both orbital phase variation and spectral shape of the snapshot spectra. The phase variation is more readily detectable: one-day integrations with LIFE at two orbital phases would reveal flux variations in no-ocean cases with 1-10 bar atmospheres, depending on background atmospheric composition. Shapshot spectra provide complementary diagnostics, including the running brightness temperature of the continuum and detailed absorption band shapes, but detecting these features requires longer integration times. These 3D effects, if neglected, can bias interpretations based on 1D models, and could also lead to misidentification of the H$_2$O band beyond 10 $μ$m. We also assess the detectability of these 3D effects on other nearby planets. Our results highlight the need to incorporate 3D atmospheric structures when characterizing rocky exoplanets, both to constrain surface conditions and to avoid misinterpretation of spectral data.

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arXiv2026

Anatomy of Empirical Transit Spectra of Mars based on TGO/NOMAD

Transit spectroscopy is a powerful tool for probing atmospheric structures of exoplanets. Accurately accounting for the effects of aerosols is key to reconstructing atmospheric properties from transit spectra, yet this remains a significant challenge. To advance this effort, it is invaluable to examine the spectral features of well-characterized planetary atmospheres. Here, we synthesize empirical transit spectra of Mars across different seasons based on data from the NOMAD's Solar Occultation channel onboard ExoMars/TGO, which operates at wavelengths of 0.2-0.65 and 2-4 micron. In the generated empirical transit spectra, the atmosphere below 25 km is found to be largely opaque due to the presence of micron-sized dust and water ice clouds, both of which substantially weaken spectral features. The spectra exhibit CO2 absorption features at 2.7-2.8 micron and signatures of sub-micron-sized mesospheric water ice clouds around 3.1 micron, accompanied by a continuum slope. The amplitudes of these spectral features are found to vary with the Martian seasons, where the dust storms weaken the CO2 signatures and strengthen the water ice features, which serve as potential indicators of a dusty planet like Mars. If TRAPPIST-1f possessed a Mars-like atmospheric structure, both CO2 and water ice features would be detectable at a noise level of 3 ppm, a level likely beyond current observational capabilities. Nevertheless, the 3.1 micron feature produced by sub-micron-sized mesospheric water ice clouds offers a novel avenue for characterizing the atmospheres of habitable-zone exoplanets.

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arXiv2025

On the use of polarized thermal emission to constrain cloud grain size and temperature structure of sub-stellar objects

Emission spectroscopy is an invaluable tool for probing the atmospheres of brown dwarfs and exoplanets, but interpretations based on flux spectra alone often suffer from degeneracies among temperature structure, chemical composition, and cloud properties. Thermal emission spectropolarimetry offers complementary sensitivity to these atmospheric characteristics. Previous studies have shown that linear polarization in fixed bandpasses depends on emission angle, temperature profile, and cloud scattering. In this study, we revisit these dependencies, emphasizing the wavelength-dependent effects that shape polarized spectra. We show that thermal polarization spectrum is primarily governed by: (1) a combination of temperature, temperature gradient, and wavelength; (2) cloud particle size; and (3) cloud optical thickness. Using the 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer code ARTES, we simulate polarization spectra from a modeled 1D atmosphere. We find that, for a fixed cloud optical thickness, the polarization exhibits peaks at size parameters near 0.2 and 1. However, the dependence on cloud optical thickness is more pronounced and tends to dominate the broadband polarization. We further show that much narrower polarization features in molecular absorption band, can in principle trace the local temperature gradient at the photosphere of each wavelength. Future low-resolution (resolving power around 100) spectropolarimeter operating at 1-2 micron with sensitivities of 1e-5 would be able to capture these polarization features, and may provide a new diagnostic for breaking degeneracies that commonly affect flux-only retrievals. This work represents an incremental step toward the challenging goal of jointly interpreting atmosphere from both intensity and polarization spectra.

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arXiv2025

Impacts of Atmospheric Carbon Species and Stellar Type on Climates of Terrestrial Planets

The climates of terrestrial planets are largely determined by the composition of their atmospheres and spectral types of their host stars. Previous studies suggest a wide range of carbon species abundances (CO\textsubscript{2}, CO, and CH\textsubscript{4}) can result from variations in reducing fluxes and stellar spectral types which influence photochemistry. However, a systematic investigation of how varying carbon species, particularly CO, affect planetary climates across wide parameter spaces remains limited. Here, we employ a one-dimensional radiative-convective equilibrium model to examine the dependence of planetary climate on the abundances of carbon species and host star type. We find that CO, due to weak absorption of stellar radiation, induces only moderate changes in stratospheric temperature, while its effect on surface temperature is negligible. Under Earth-like $p_\mathrm{N_2}$ (where $p_\mathrm{i}$ is the partial pressure on the surface of species i), for cases with fixed $p_\mathrm{CO_2}$, increase in CO leads to surface cooling on planets orbiting Sun-like stars unless the sum of $p_\mathrm{CO_2}$ and $p_\mathrm{CH_4}$ exceeds $\sim$1 bar. Whereas it results in surface warming for planets around M-type stars. When the total pressure of carbon species is fixed, converting CO\textsubscript{2} or CH\textsubscript{4} into CO always induces cooling. These effects arise from a combination of CO Rayleigh scattering, pressure broadening of greenhouse gas absorption lines, and \textcolor{red}{varying water vapor levels}. We further discuss how CO- and CH\textsubscript{4}-driven cooling (warming) can trigger positive (negative) climate-photochemistry feedback, influencing atmospheric evolution. Additionally, we suggest CO-rich planets may be less susceptible to water loss and atmospheric oxidation due to lower stratospheric water vapor content.

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arXiv2025

Monosilane Worlds: Sub-Neptunes with Atmospheres Shaped by Reduced Magma Oceans

High-precision infrared spectroscopic measurements now enable detailed characterization of sub-Neptune atmospheres, potentially providing constraints on their interiors. Motivated by this, atmospheric models have been developed to explore chemical interactions between hydrogen-dominated atmospheres and possibly underlying magma oceans with various redox states. Recent models have predicted monosilane (SiH$_4$) as a potential atmospheric species derived from magma oceans in sub-Neptunes, but suggested that it is highly depleted in the observable atmospheric layers. Here, we propose that SiH$_4$ can persist throughout the atmospheres of sub-Neptunes with FeO-free reduced magma oceans by considering the dissolution of H$_2$O into the magma oceans, a factor not accounted for in previous models. We construct a one-dimensional atmospheric model to simulate the chemical equilibrium composition of hydrogen-dominated atmospheres overlying FeO-free magma oceans, incorporating H-O-Si chemistry. Our results show that the dissolution of H$_2$O enhances the SiH$_4$ molar fraction to levels of 0.1--10~\%, preventing it from reverting to silicates in the upper atmospheric layers. We find that SiH$_4$-rich atmospheres can exist across a broad parameter space with ground temperatures of 2000--6000~K and hydrogen pressures of 10$^2$--10$^5$~bar. We discuss that SiH$_4$-rich atmospheres could contain the other silanes but lack C-/N-/O-bearing species. The detection of SiH$_4$ in future observations of sub-Neptunes would provide compelling evidence for the presence of a rocky core with a reduced magma ocean. However, the accuracy of our model is limited by the lack of data on the non-ideal behavior and radiative properties of SiH$_4$, highlighting the need for further numerical and laboratory investigations.

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arXiv2024

Role of magma oceans in controlling carbon and oxygen of sub-Neptune atmospheres

Most exoplanets with a few Earth radii are more inflated than bare-rock planets with the same mass, indicating a substantial volatile amount. Neither the origin of the volatiles nor the planet's bulk composition can be constrained from the mass-radius relation alone, and the spectral characterization of their atmospheres is needed to solve this degeneracy. Previous studies showed that chemical interaction between accreted volatile and possible molten rocky surface (i.e., magma ocean) can greatly affects the atmospheric composition. However, a variety in the atmospheric compositions of such planets with different properties remains elusive. In this work, we examine the dependence of atmospheric H, O, and C on planetary parameters (atmospheric thickness, planetary mass, equilibrium temperature, and magma properties such as redox state) assuming nebula gas accretion on an Earth-like core, using an atmosphere-magma chemical equilibrium model. Consistent with previous work, we show that atmospheric $\rm H_{2}O$ fraction on a fully molten rocky interior with an Earth-like redox state is on the order of $10^{-2}$-$10^{-1}$ regardless of other planetary parameters. Despite the solubility difference between H- and C-bearing species, C/H increases only a few times above the nebula value except for atmospheric pressure $\lesssim$1000 bar and $\rm H_{2}O$ fraction $\gtrsim$10\%. This results in a negative O/H-C/O trend and depleted C/O below one-tenth of the nebula gas value under an oxidized atmosphere, which could provide a piece of evidence of rocky interior and endogenic water. We also highlight the importance of constraints on the high-pressure material properties for interpreting the magma-atmospheric interaction of inflated planets.

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arXiv2024

Mapping Exoplanets

The varied surfaces and atmospheres of planets make them interesting places to live, explore, and study from afar. Unfortunately, the great distance to exoplanets makes it impossible to resolve their disk with current or near-term technology. It is still possible, however, to deduce spatial inhomogeneities in exoplanets provided that different regions are visible at different times -- this can be due to rotation, orbital motion, and occultations by a star, planet, or moon. Astronomers have so far constructed maps of thermal emission and albedo for short period giant exoplanets. These maps constrain atmospheric dynamics and cloud patterns in exotic atmospheres. In the future, exo-cartography could yield surface maps of terrestrial planets, hinting at the geophysical and geochemical processes that shape them.

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arXiv2023

A search for auroral radio emission from βPictoris b

Magnetized exoplanets can serve as the source of auroral radio emissions, allowing us to characterize the magnetospheric properties of these planets. Successful detections of auroral radio emissions from brown dwarfs, as well as from Jupiter, suggest that Jupiter-like planets in distant orbits may also generate radio emissions through a similar mechanism. In this study, we present our search for 250-500 MHz emissions from $β$ Pictoris b, one of the most extensively studied young Jupiter-like planets. We conducted the search using the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT). Despite the favourable orbital inclination, no signal was detected, putting 3$σ$ upper limits on the radiation at 0.18 mJy. We translate this limit into constraints on the ionospheric and magnetospheric parameters, assuming that the emission is powered by the Hill current system. While the upper limit is larger by a factor of a few than the nominal estimate of radio intensity, we put constraints on the magnetospheric and ionospheric parameters.

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arXiv2023

GREX-PLUS Science Book

GREX-PLUS (Galaxy Reionization EXplorer and PLanetary Universe Spectrometer) is a mission candidate for a JAXA's strategic L-class mission to be launched in the 2030s. Its primary sciences are two-fold: galaxy formation and evolution and planetary system formation and evolution. The GREX-PLUS spacecraft will carry a 1.2 m primary mirror aperture telescope cooled down to 50 K. The two science instruments will be onboard: a wide-field camera in the 2-8 $μ$m wavelength band and a high resolution spectrometer with a wavelength resolution of 30,000 in the 10-18 $μ$m band. The GREX-PLUS wide-field camera aims to detect the first generation of galaxies at redshift $z>15$. The GREX-PLUS high resolution spectrometer aims to identify the location of the water ``snow line'' in proto-planetary disks. Both instruments will provide unique data sets for a broad range of scientific topics including galaxy mass assembly, origin of supermassive blackholes, infrared background radiation, molecular spectroscopy in the interstellar medium, transit spectroscopy for exoplanet atmosphere, planetary atmosphere in the Solar system, and so on.

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arXiv2023

Revealing the dynamics of magnetosphere, atmosphere, and interior of solar system objects with the Square Kilometre Array

Bodies such as planets, moons, and asteroids in our solar system are the brightest objects in the low-frequency radio astronomy at $\lesssim$ 10 GHz. The low-frequency radio emissions from our solar system bodies exhibit various observed characteristics in the spectrum, polarization, periodicity, and flux. The observed characteristics are essential probes for explorations of the bodies' magnetosphere, atmosphere, surface, and even their interior. Generation and propagation theories of the radio emissions associate the characteristics with fundamental physics embedded in the environments: e.g., auroral electron acceleration, betatron acceleration, and atmospheric momentum transfer. Here we review previous studies on the low-frequency radio emissions from our solar system bodies to unveil some outstanding key questions on the dynamics and evolution of the bodies. To address the key questions by the future observations with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), we made feasibility studies for detection and imaging of the radio emissions. Possible extensions of the solar system observations with SKA to the exoplanets are also proposed in the summary.

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arXiv2022

Community Report from the Biosignatures Standards of Evidence Workshop

The search for life beyond the Earth is the overarching goal of the NASA Astrobiology Program, and it underpins the science of missions that explore the environments of Solar System planets and exoplanets. However, the detection of extraterrestrial life, in our Solar System and beyond, is sufficiently challenging that it is likely that multiple measurements and approaches, spanning disciplines and missions, will be needed to make a convincing claim. Life detection will therefore not be an instantaneous process, and it is unlikely to be unambiguous-yet it is a high-stakes scientific achievement that will garner an enormous amount of public interest. Current and upcoming research efforts and missions aimed at detecting past and extant life could be supported by a consensus framework to plan for, assess and discuss life detection claims (c.f. Green et al., 2021). Such a framework could help increase the robustness of biosignature detection and interpretation, and improve communication with the scientific community and the public. In response to this need, and the call to the community to develop a confidence scale for standards of evidence for biosignature detection (Green et al., 2021), a community-organized workshop was held on July 19-22, 2021. The meeting was designed in a fully virtual (flipped) format. Preparatory materials including readings, instructional videos and activities were made available prior to the workshop, allowing the workshop schedule to be fully dedicated to active community discussion and prompted writing sessions. To maximize global interaction, the discussion components of the workshop were held during business hours in three different time zones, Asia/Pacific, European and US, with daily information hand-off between group organizers.

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arXiv2022

Unveiling non-gray surface of cloudy exoplanets: the influence of wavelength-dependent surface albedo and cloud scattering properties on retrieval solutions

Direct-imaging spectra hold rich information about a planet's atmosphere and surface, and several space-based missions aiming at such observations will become a reality in the near future. Previous spectral retrieval works have resulted in key atmospheric constraints under the assumption of a gray surface, but the effect of wavelength-dependent surface albedo on retrieval has not been shown. We explore the influence of the coupling effect of cloud and wavelength-dependent surface albedo on retrieval performance via modeling suites of Earth-like atmospheres with varying cloud and surface albedo parameterizations. Under the assumption of known cloud scattering properties, the surface spectral albedos can be reasonably recovered when the surface cover represents that of Earth-like vegetation or ocean, which may aid in characterizing the planet's habitability. When the cloud scattering properties cannot be assumed, we show that the degeneracy between the cloud properties and wavelength-dependent surface albedo leads to biased results of atmospheric and cloud properties. The multi-epoch visible band observations offer limited improvement in disentangling this degeneracy. However, the constraints on atmospheric properties from the combination of UV band (R $\sim 6$) $+$ visible band (R $\sim 140$) are consistent with input values to within 1 $σ$. If short bandpass data is not available, an alternative solution to reduce the retrieval uncertainties would be to have the prior constraints on planetary cloud fraction with less than 20% uncertainty.

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