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Effects of high-energy astrophysical events on habitable planets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2012

Jorge E. Horvath  and
Douglas Galante
Jorge E. Horvath
Affiliation:
Astrobiology Laboratory, Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de São Paulo, R. do Matão 1226, Cidade Universitária, 05508-090 São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Douglas Galante*
Affiliation:
Astrobiology Laboratory, Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de São Paulo, R. do Matão 1226, Cidade Universitária, 05508-090 São Paulo, SP, Brazil
*
e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

With the possible exception of meteor impacts, high-energy astrophysical events such as supernovae, gamma-ray bursts (GRB) and flares are usually not taken into account for biological and evolutionary studies due to their low rates of occurrence. We show that a class of these events may occur at distances and time scales in which their biological effects are non-negligible, maybe more frequent than the impacts of large asteroids. We review the effects of four transient astrophysical sources of ionizing radiation on biospheres – stellar flares, giant flares from soft gamma repeaters (SGR), supernovae and GRB. The main damaging features of them are briefly discussed and illustrated. We point out some open problems and ongoing work.

Keywords

extinctiongamma-ray burstgiant flaresozone depletionsolar flaressoft-gamma repeatersstellar flaressupernovaultraviolet radiationultraviolet flash
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 11 , Issue 4: SPECIAL ISSUE: THE SAO PAULO ADVANCED SCHOOL OF ASTROBIOLOGY – SPASA 2011 , October 2012 , pp. 279 - 286
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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