Building Blocks of Exoplanet Atmospheres: First step towards AtmSPONCHpop
The diversity of exoplanetary atmospheres reflects a complex interplay between planetary formation, internal structure, and long-term evolution. Understanding these connections requires theoretical frameworks that can trace a planet’s history from its birth in a protoplanetary disc to the properties observed today.
In this seminar, I will outline the building blocks of exoplanet atmospheres — from the processes of core and envelope formation to atmospheric escape, cooling, and interior coupling. I will then introduce AtmSPONCHpop, a new theoretical framework under development as part of the UCL planet population synthesis code SPONCHpop. The aim of AtmSPONCHpop is to provide a physically grounded, modular approach to modelling atmospheric evolution during and after disc dispersal, incorporating mechanisms such as photoevaporation and core-powered mass loss.
The talk will focus on the theoretical foundations and design philosophy of the framework, showing how it will enable future population-level studies that bridge planet formation models with observational data on exoplanet atmospheres.