Research Projects

The discovery of exoplanets has revolutionized the exploration of the Universe, allowing us to answer fundamental questions about the diversity of exoplanets, their atmosphere composition, and whether they can harbor life. The number of exoplanets discovered now exceeds 4000, with a rich diversity of planets including hot Jupiters, warm Neptunes, super Earths, and Earth-like planets. These planets exhibit variation in planetary mass, radius, stellar host, and distance from the host star, leading to a variety of atmospheric composition and structure. Developing accurate theoretical models is crucial for understanding all possible atmospheres around exoplanets. Interpreting exoplanet atmosphere observations from telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) requires simulated observations generated using these models. This project aims to develop an adaptable planetary atmosphere model for a range of planet types, including radiative transfer scheme with scattering, generalized equilibrium and dis-equilibrium chemistry scheme, photochemistry, and cloud parameterization. The project will generate simulated observations using this model as a prediction tool for future observations and as an interpreter for current observations by coupling the model with a Bayesian sampler for inverse modeling. This project will be valuable in understanding planetary atmospheres in general and providing a valuable tool for interpreting observations of distant worlds.