The search for life beyond Earth relies on identifying atmospheric or  surface features that could reveal biological activity. Yet many  proposed biosignatures may also arise through abiotic processes, and a  signal that is compelling in an Earth-like context may be ambiguous on  another world. This motivates a complementary approach, predicting the  abiotic baseline expected for rocky exoplanets from their physical and  chemical properties.

I will examine how planetary interiors, initial conditions, stellar  evolution, and atmospheric processes shape the observable composition  of rocky worlds. Unlike the familiar metallicity-driven picture for  giant planets, rocky-planet atmospheres may retain clues to interior  redox state and outgassing. Coupled models of interior evolution,  atmospheric chemistry, and escape can help predict abiotic  compositions, while uncertainties in planetary properties make broad  parameter-space exploration essential.

These predictions provide a practical guide for biosignature searches:  identify what abiotic processes can plausibly produce, then look for  planets whose observations depart from those expectations. Such  anomalies are not evidence of life by themselves, but they can help  prioritize exoplanet systems for future observations.