The sky is made of lava: how lava worlds reveal their interiors through their atmospheres

Buchem, C.P.A. van (2025)

Doctoral Thesis

Hot rocky exoplanets are planets that orbit so close to their host star that they possess a molten surface. This provides a unique opportunity to infer their interior composition from their atmospheric properties. In this thesis, we develop vaporisation models and implement them within larger code frameworks to investigate how interior properties of these planets can be derived from their atmospheric spectra.

• Exoplanets
• Atmospheres
• Interiors
• Lava
• Vaporisation

• All authors: Buchem, C.P.A. van
• Supervisor: Snellen, I.A.G.; Westrenen, W. van
• Co-supervisor: Miguel, Y.
• Committee: Vidotto, A.; Dishoeck, E.F. van; Hogerheijde, M.; Lichtenberg, T.; Min, M.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Leiden Observatory, Faculty of Science, Leiden University
• Date: 2025-09-05
• ISBN (print): 9789464738834
• Sponsorship: NWO