Diversity of Low-mass Planet Atmospheres in the C–H–O–N–S–Cl System with Interior Dissolution, Nonideality, and Condensation: Application to TRAPPIST-1e and Sub-Neptunes

Abstract

A quantitative understanding of the nature and composition of low-mass rocky (exo)planet atmospheres during their evolution is needed to interpret observations. The magma ocean stage of terrestrial and sub-Neptune planets permits mass exchange between their interiors and atmospheres, during which the mass and speciation of the atmosphere is dictated by the planet’s volatile budget, chemical equilibria, and gas/fluid solubility in molten rock. As the atmosphere cools, it is modified by gas-phase reactions and condensation. We combine these processes into an open-source Python package built using JAX called Atmodeller , and perform calculations for planet sizes and conditions analogous to TRAPPIST-1e and K2-18b. For TRAPPIST-1e-like planets, our simulations indicate that CO-dominated atmospheres are prevalent during the magma ocean stage, which, upon isochemical cooling, predominantly evolve into CO 2 -rich atmospheres of a few hundred bar at 280 K. Around 40% of our simulations predict the coexistence of liquid water, graphite, α -sulfur, and ammonium chloride—key ingredients for surface habitability. For sub-Neptune gas dwarfs, pressures are sufficiently high (∼GPa) that gas fugacities deviate from ideality, thereby drastically enhancing solubilities. This buffers the total atmospheric pressure to lower values than for the ideal case. These effects conspire to produce CH 4 -rich sub-Neptune atmospheres for total pressures exceeding ∼3.5 GPa, provided H/C is ∼100× solar and f O 2 moderately reducing (3 log 10 units below the iron–wüstite buffer). Otherwise, molecular hydrogen remains the predominant species at lower total pressures and/or higher H/C. For all planets at high temperature, solubility enriches C/H in the atmosphere relative to the initial composition.