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Abstract:
With the first observations of debris disks as well as proposed planets around white dwarfs, the question of how rocky planets around such stellar remnants can be characterized and probed for signs of life becomes tangible. White dwarfs are similar in size to Earth and have relatively stable environments for billions of years after initial cooling, making them intriguing targets for exoplanet searches and terrestrial planet atmospheric characterization. Their small size and the resulting large planet transit signal allows observations with next generation telescopes to probe the atmosphere of such rocky planets, if they exist. However, an Earth-like exoplanet orbiting a white dwarf would be exposed to different UV environments than Earth, influencing both its atmospheric photochemistry and UV surface environment. We created climate/photochemistry model atmospheres and transmission spectra of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone of white dwarfs for surface temperatures between 6000 K and 4000 K, corresponding to about 7 billion years of white dwarf evolution, as well as discuss the evolution of planetary models in the habitable zone during that evolution.

Life After (Stellar) Death: Atmospheres and Biosignatures of Earth-like Planets Orbiting White Dwarfs