标题： 用宜居世界观测站（HWO）测试生命起源理论 显示英文标题

标题： Testing Origin-of-Life Theories with the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO)

摘要： 宜居世界观测台（HWO）旨在通过望远镜确定太阳邻域中生物圈的频率和丰富度。 生命起源理论在对环境要求和非生物起源预期频率的预测上存在差异，这意味着HWO对系外行星上生命频率和分布的限制原则上可以直接测试非生物起源理论。 我们将生命起源理论分为三个大类，并讨论HWO可能如何测试它们。 在大量可居住行星上未检测到生物学迹象将提供独立于先验证据的支持，支持认为生命起源是偶然的、极不可能发生的非生物起源理论类别，而检测到单个生物圈将反驳这一类理论。 候选生物圈与行星参数（如紫外线照射、海洋的存在和大陆的存在）之间的相关性可以测试具体的生命起源理论。 需要进行带有贝叶斯分析的模拟调查，以量化HWO执行此科学案例的能力。 然而，从已经进行的有限研究中得出的一个明确主题是需要较大的样本量（$\gtrsim50$颗被表征的行星）来对非生物起源理论提供有意义的约束，这倾向于为HWO设计更大的样本。 显示英文摘要

摘要： The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) aims to telescopically constrain the frequency and abundance of biospheres in the solar neighborhood. Origin-of-life theories vary in their predictions for the environmental requirements and the expected frequency of abiogenesis, meaning that constraints on the frequency and distribution of life on exoplanets from HWO can in principle directly test theories of abiogenesis. We categorize origin-of-life theories into three broad classes and discuss how HWO could potentially test them. Nondetection of biology on a large sample of habitable planets would provide prior-independent evidence in favor of the class of abiogenesis theory which holds that the origin of life is a contingent, vanishingly unlikely event, whereas detection of event a single biosphere would falsify this class of theories. Correlations of candidate biospheres with planetary parameters such as UV irradiation, the presence of oceans, and the presence of continents can test specific origin-of-life theories. Simulated surveys with Bayesian analysis are required to quantify the ability of HWO to execute this science case. However, a clear theme from the limited such studies that have already been conducted is the need for large sample sizes ($\gtrsim50$ planets characterized) to provide meaningful constraints on abiogenesis theories, favoring a larger design sample for HWO.