Photosynthesis on habitable planets around low-mass stars
Abstract
We show that planets around M-dwarfs with M⋆ ≲ 0.2 M⊙ may not receive enough photons in the photosynthetically active range of 400-750 nm to sustain Earth-like biospheres. As a result of the lower biological productivity, it is likely that biotic molecular oxygen would not build-up to detectable levels in the atmospheres of habitable planets orbiting low-mass stars, consistent with prior work by Lehmer et al. We also estimate the minimum flaring rate for sustaining biospheres with Earth-like productivity and permitting the build-up of atmospheric oxygen, and find that the overwhelming majority of M-dwarfs are unlikely to exceed this threshold.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- June 2019
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/stz847
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1901.01270
- Bibcode:
- 2019MNRAS.485.5924L
- Keywords:
-
- extraterrestrial intelligence;
- astrobiology;
- stars: low-mass;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Accepted for publication in MNRAS