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research article

A birth-death-migration model for life in astrophysical environments

Lingam, Manasvi
•
Grimaldi, Claudio  
•
Balbi, Amedeo
December 7, 2021
Monthly Notices Of The Royal Astronomical Society

To assess the number of life-bearing worlds in astrophysical environments, it is necessary to take the intertwined processes of abiogenesis (birth), extinction (death), and transfer of life (migration) into account. We construct a mathematical model that incorporates this trio of mechanisms and accordingly derive the probability distribution function and other statistical properties (e.g. mean) for the number of worlds with biospheres. We show that a given astrophysical setting may become eventually saturated with life if the rate of successful transfers of organisms is higher than the extinction rate of biospheres. Based on the available data, we suggest that this criterion might be fulfilled for star-forming clusters (and perhaps the Galactic bulge under optimal circumstances), thereby indicating that such regions could constitute promising abodes for hosting and detecting life.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stab3108
Web of Science ID

WOS:000756700600002

Author(s)
Lingam, Manasvi
Grimaldi, Claudio  
Balbi, Amedeo
Date Issued

2021-12-07

Publisher

OXFORD UNIV PRESS

Published in
Monthly Notices Of The Royal Astronomical Society
Volume

509

Issue

3

Start page

4365

End page

4371

Subjects

Astronomy & Astrophysics

•

astrobiology

•

methods: analytical

•

galaxy: bulge

•

open clusters and associations: general

•

interstellar travel

•

ionizing-radiation

•

drake equation

•

habitable zone

•

panspermia

•

exchange

•

evolution

•

division

•

systems

•

space

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LPM  
Available on Infoscience
March 14, 2022
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/186353
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