Distinguishing N$_2$-Dominated from O$_2$-Dominated Atmospheres on Terrestrial Exoplanets with Reflected-Light Spectroscopy

Abstract

Reflected-light spectra of Earth-sized exoplanets promise to probe habitability and biosignatures, but interpreting atmospheric oxygen can be challenging because $O_2$ can arise from both biological and abiotic processes. In addition, reflected-light retrievals exhibit degeneracies among atmospheric composition, clouds, surface reflectance, and gravity. We use the Bayesian retrieval framework ExoReL$^\Re$, leveraging recent model developments that incorporate (i) $O_2$-$O_2$ collision-induced absorption (CIA), which produces the $O_4$ bands, and (ii) a wavelength-dependent (step-function) surface albedo parameterization. Focusing on a modern Earth analog, we compare retrievals with and without $O_2$-$O_2$ CIA using spectra within 0.25-1.8 $μ$m, and perform signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) sweeps for two observing configurations motivated by the Habitable Worlds Observatory: a resolved-visible case ($R_{VIS}=140$) and a broadband-visible case (three broad bins). Omitting $O_2$-$O_2$ CIA allows the retrieval to fit the spectrum with an incorrect $O_2$-dominated atmosphere. Including $O_2$-$O_2$ CIA leverages the $O_4$ bands to break this degeneracy and recover the correct $N_2$-dominated, $O_2$-rich solution without requiring a tight mass prior. Adopting a robustness criterion of $\ge95\%$ posterior mass in the $N_2$-dominated region, both configurations require SNR $\gtrsim20$ at 0.75 $μ$m (SNR $\approx14$ near the 1.27 $μ$m $O_4$ band for $R_{NIR}=70$) to identify the correct dominant gas, with higher cloud fraction increasing this threshold. Reducing near-IR coverage to 1.4 $μ$m prevents recovery of the correct $N_2$-dominated solution across the explored SNR range, and instead favors a spurious $O_2$-dominated, $CO_2$-rich atmosphere. These results support near-IR coverage to $\sim1.7$ $μ$m and SNR $\gtrsim20$ at 0.75 $μ$m for robust oxygen interpretation on Earth-like planets.