About
Emily Rauscher is a theoretical astrophysicist who studies exoplanets, particularly hot Jupiters. She uses a 3D atmospheric circulation numerical code to model the wind and temperature structures in exoplanet atmospheres, both to understand the exotic physical processes at play and to investigate how these complex properties influence various types of atmospheric measurements. Her group's 3D model has been used to study physical processes such as radiatively active cloud species that form and dissipate as the simulation runs, and the influence of magnetic drag when the winds become weakly thermally ionized. Rauscher has studied how orbital phase curves can constrain the day-night differences around a planet, has pioneered eclipse mapping as a method to resolve 2D maps of exoplanet daysides, and is a leader in identifying how 3D atmospheric properties (including winds and rotation) influence high-resolution spectroscopic measurements. With the launch of JWST and the construction of Extremely Large Telescopes, the next generation of exoplanet atmospheric characterization measurements will require 3D models to correctly interpret the data, providing deep insight into the details of these extraordinary worlds.
Notable Results
- Rauscher was one of the first to propose eclipse mapping as a method that could resolve the dayside map of an exoplanet, and has published techniques for model-independent and maximally informative eclipse mapping. She has helped to shepherd the development of methods to extract 3D atmospheric information from JWST eclipse maps.
- She predicted that if magnetic effects are responsible for inflating hot Jupiter radii, they should also result in significant, observable changes to these planets’ atmospheric circulation. Her group's 3D model contains the unique capability to model the influence of magnetic drag, in a simplified way to avoid a full MHD treatment.
- She was one of the first to propose that Doppler shifts and broadening in high-resolution exoplanet spectra could be used to measure or constrain the atmospheric wind speeds and rotation rates of hot Jupiters. Her group has pioneered new analyses of high-resolution measurements, showing that 3D models can recover atmospheric properties inaccessible to 1D models.
Background
BA, University of California, Berkeley; PhD, Columbia University; NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Arizona and Princeton University; Spitzer Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University; President's Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan
Publications
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