Transit spectroscopy of temperate exoplanets

The PhD student will work on advancing our understanding of the atmospheric physical/chemical processes and origins of temperate gaseous planets such as sub-Neptunes, Neptunes and gas giants. The goal is to analyse JWST data of temperate sub-Neptunes and possibly gas giants, as well as early Twinkle data from cool giants to address the questions above. As well as characterising individual planets, they will look for sample trends and relationships in atmospheric properties such as metallicity, clouds, photochemistry and how these relate to planet mass and size and host star properties. In addition, or alternatively, temperate atmospheres may be modelled to assess observability of various scenarios. There will be opportunities to learn and develop skills in data reduction, atmospheric modelling, spectral retrieval analysis and instrument simulation (e.g. further development of the JexoSim simulator). There will also be opportunities to participate in and write new JWST observing proposals.