Aims: Disk-averaged infrared spectra of Neptune between 1.8 and 13 $μ$m, obtained by the AKARI Infrared Camera (IRC) in May 2007, have been analysed to (a) determine the globally-averaged stratospheric temperature structure; (b) derive the abundances of stratospheric hydrocarbons; and (c) detect fluorescent emission from CO at 4.7 $μ$m. Methods: Mid-infrared spectra were modelled using a line-by-line radiative transfer code to determine the temperature structure between 1-1000 $μ$bar and the abundances of CH$_4$, CH$_3$D and higher-order hydrocarbons. A full non-LTE radiative model was then used to determine the best fitting CO profile to reproduce the fluorescent emission observed at 4.7 $μ$m in the NG channel (with a spectral resolution of 135). Results: The globally-averaged stratospheric temperature structure is quasi-isothermal between 1-1000 $μ$bar, which suggests little variation in global stratospheric conditions since studies by the Infrared Space Observatory a decade earlier. The derived CH$_4$ mole fraction of $(9.0\pm3.0)\times10^{-4}$ at 50 mbar, decreasing to $(0.9\pm0.3)\times10^{-4}$ at 1 $μ$bar, is larger than that expected if the tropopause at 56 K acts as an efficient cold trap, but consistent with the hypothesis that CH$_4$ leaking through the warm south polar tropopause (62-66 K) is globally redistributed by stratospheric motion. The ratio of D/H in CH$_4$ of $3.0\pm1.0\times10^{-4}$ supports the conclusion that Neptune is enriched in deuterium relative to the other giant planets. We determine a mole fraction of ethane of $(8.5\pm2.1)\times10^{-7}$ at 0.3 mbar, consistent with previous studies, and a mole fraction of ethylene of $5.0_{-2.1}^{+1.8}\times10^{-7}$ at 2.8 $μ$bar. An emission peak at 4.7 $μ$m is interpreted as a fluorescent emission of CO, and requires a vertical distribution with both external and internal sources of CO.
Comparatively little is known about atmospheric chemistry on Uranus and Neptune, because remote spectral observations of these cold, distant ``Ice Giants'' are challenging, and each planet has only been visited by a single spacecraft during brief flybys in the 1980s. Thermochemical equilibrium is expected to control the composition in the deeper, hotter regions of the atmosphere on both planets, but disequilibrium chemical processes such as transport-induced quenching and photochemistry alter the composition in the upper atmospheric regions that can be probed remotely. Surprising disparities i…
Atmospheric Modelling for Neptune's Methane D/H Ratio - Preliminary Results
太阳系天体的氘氢比（D/H比）是揭示其形成历史的重要线索。本文将海王星大气模型与双子座近红外光谱仪（GNIRS）高光谱分辨率观测数据进行拟合，确定了甲烷在红外H波段（$\sim$ 1.6 μm）吸收的D/H比。该模型是使用我们的辐射转移软件VSTAR（Versatile Software for the Transfer of Atmospheric Radiation）和大气拟合软件ATMOF（Atmospheric Fitting）导出的。这项工作所使用的甲烷线清单是在过去几年中才得到的，因此可以对以前的估计进行改进。我们确定了行星盘上的一个明亮区域，并发现它对应于一个光学厚的低云。我们初步确定CH $_{\rm 3}$ D/CH $_{\rm 4}$为3.0 $\times10^{-4}$，这与Irwin等人（2014）最近使用相同模型参数和线列表但不同观测数据确定的3.0 $^{+1.0}_{-0.9}\sim\times10^{-4}$一致。这支持了海王星的原太阳冰D/H比远小于彗星的证据，并表明海王星在其目前的轨道内形成。
The hot Neptune desert, a distinct lack of highly irradiated planets in the size range of Neptune, remains one of the most intriguing results of exoplanet population studies. A deeper understanding of the atmosphere of exoplanets sitting at the edge or even within the Neptune desert will allow us to better understand if planetary formation or evolution processes are at the origin of the desert. A detection of sodium in WASP-166b was presented previously with tentative line broadening at the 3.4 sigma with the HARPS spectrograph. We update this result with two transits observed with the ESPRESS…
A significant fraction of super-Earths and sub-Neptunes are thought to experience an extreme loss of volatiles because of atmospheric evaporation in the early stages of their life. Though the mechanisms behind the extreme mass loss are not fully understood, two contenders have been widely discussed: photoevaporation from X-ray and ultraviolet irradiation and core powered mass loss. Here, it is shown that both mechanisms occur but with different timescales, and that atmospheric loss can take place over three regimes. In the first regime, a planet has very high internal temperatures arising from…
We investigate the enrichment patterns of several delivery scenarios of the volatiles to the atmospheres of ice giants, having in mind that the only well constrained determination made remotely, i.e. the carbon abundance measurement, suggests that their envelopes possess highly supersolar metallicities, i.e. close to two orders of magnitude above that of the protosolar nebula. In the framework of the core accretion model, only the delivery of volatiles in solid forms (amorphous ice, clathrates, pure condensates) to these planets can account for the apparent supersolar metallicity of their enve…
Sub-Neptunes (planets with radii between 2 and 4 R$_{\oplus}$) are abundant around M-dwarf stars, yet the atmospheric dynamics of these planets is relatively unexplored. In this paper, we aim to provide a basic underpinning of the dry dynamics of general low mean molecular weight, temperate sub-Neptune atmospheres. We use the ExoFMS GCM with an idealised grey gas radiation scheme to simulate planetary atmospheres with different levels of instellation and rotation rates, using the atmosphere of K2-18b as our control. We find that the atmospheres of tidally-locked, temperate sub-Neptunes have we…
Substantial silicate vapor is expected to be in chemical equilibrium at temperature conditions typical of the silicate-atmosphere interface of sub-Neptune planets, which can exceed 5000 K. Previous models of the atmospheric structure and evolution of these exoplanets, which have been used to constrain their atmospheric mass fractions, have neglected this compositional coupling. In this work, we show that silicate vapor in a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere acts as a condensable species, decreasing in abundance with altitude. The resultant mean molecular weight gradient inhibits convection at temp…
Using 2D thermal structure models and pseudo-2D chemical kinetics models, we explore how atmospheric temperatures and composition change as a function of altitude and longitude within the equatorial regions of close-in transiting Neptune-class exoplanets at different distances from their host stars. Our models predict that the day-night stratospheric temperature contrasts increase with increasing planetary effective temperatures T_eff; atmospheric composition also changes significantly with T_eff. Horizontal transport-induced quenching is very effective in our simulated exo-Neptune atmospheres…
Long-Term Evolution of Close-in Sub-Neptunes and Outer Planetary Embryos: Atmospheric Mass Loss and Origin of Planets Inside and Outside the Radius Gap
Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学）；Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交大李政道研究所）
The GAPS Programme at TNG. LXXIII. Confirmation of the hot sub-Neptune TOI-4602 b (HD 25295 b), a key target for future atmospheric characterization
INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo（意大利国家天体物理研究所巴勒莫天文台）；ESO - European Southern Observatory（欧洲南方天文台）；INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma（意大利国家天体物理研究所罗马天文台）；INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania（意大利国家天体物理研究所卡塔尼亚天文台）；Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, ETH Zürich（苏黎世联邦理工学院粒子物理与天体物理研究所）；Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences（奥地利科学院空间研究所）
Super-Earths and mini-Neptunes are the most abundant types of planets among the ~3500 confirmed exoplanets, and are expected to exhibit a wide variety of atmospheric compositions. Recent transmission spectra of super-Earths and mini-Neptunes have demonstrated the possibility that exoplanets have haze/cloud layers at high altitudes in their atmospheres. However, the compositions, size distributions, and optical properties of these particles in exoplanet atmospheres are poorly understood. Here, we present the results of experimental laboratory investigations of photochemical haze formation withi…
Three-dimensional transport-induced chemistry on temperate sub-Neptune K2-18b, Part II: the combined effects of atmospheric dynamics and chemical reactions
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy（马克斯·普朗克天文学研究所）；Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University（北京大学物理学院大气与海洋科学系）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy, University of Exeter（埃克塞特大学环境、科学与经济学院物理与天文系）
It is well known that planets with radii between that of Earth and Neptune have been the most commonly detected to-date. To classify these planets as either terrestrial or gaseous, typically we turn to mass-radius relations and composition curves to determine the likelihood of such a planet being rocky or gaseous. While these methods have set a likely transition radius of approximately 1.5 R$_{\oplus}$, we cannot expect that any change between terrestrial and gaseous compositions will be a sharp cut-off, and composition curve predictions result in ambiguous designations for planets right near …
High-resolution spectroscopic atmospheric studies of 5 hot Jupiters across the edge of the Neptune desert
Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院高能物理研究所）；National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台）；School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学天文与空间科学学院）；Beijing Planetarium, Beijing academy of science and technology（北京天文馆，北京科学技术研究院）；Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学天文系）；Deep Space Exploration Laboratory（深空探测实验室）；National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家空间科学中心）
Planet atmospheric escape induced by high-energy stellar irradiation is a key phenomenon shaping the structure and evolution of planetary atmospheres. Therefore, the present-day properties of a planetary atmosphere are intimately connected with the amount of stellar flux received by a planet during its lifetime, thus with the evolutionary path of its host star. Using a recently developed analytic approximation based on hydrodynamic simulations for atmospheric escape rates, we track within a Bayesian framework the evolution of a planet as a function of stellar flux evolution history, constraine…
Atmospheric observations of mini-Neptunes orbiting M-dwarfs are beginning to provide constraints on their chemical and thermal properties, while also providing clues about their interiors and potential surfaces. With their relatively large scale heights and large planet-star contrasts, mini-Neptunes are currently ideal targets towards the goal of characterising temperate low-mass exoplanets. Understanding the thermal structures and spectral appearances of mini-Neptunes is important to understand various aspects of their atmospheres, including radiative/convective energy transport, boundary con…
Atmospheric Circulation of High-Obliquity Mini-Neptunes
Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交大李政道研究所）；School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学物理与天文学院）；State Key Laboratory of Dark Matter Physics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学暗物质重点实验室）；Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University（普林斯顿大学天体科学系）；Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics（加拿大理论天体物理研究所）
The Ice Giants Uranus and Neptune have hydrogen-based atmospheres with several constituents that condense in their cold upper atmospheres. A small number of bright cloud systems observed in both planets are good candidates for moist convective storms, but their observed properties (size, temporal scales and cycles of activity) differ from moist convective storms in the Gas Giants. These clouds and storms are possibly due to methane condensation and observations also suggest deeper clouds of hydrogen sulfide (H$_2$S) at depths of a few bars. Even deeper, thermochemical models predict clouds of …
The Role of Intrinsic Temperature and Vertical Mixing in Characterizing Sub-Neptune Atmospheres
The Pennsylvania State University（宾夕法尼亚州立大学）；Southeastern Universities Research Association（东南部大学研究协会）；NASA Goddard Space Flight Center（美国宇航局戈达德太空飞行中心）；NASA Ames Research Center（美国宇航局艾姆斯研究中心）；University of Washington（华盛顿大学）；Arizona State University（亚利桑那州立大学）
Planets intermediate in size between the Earth and Neptune, and orbiting closer to their host stars than Mercury does the Sun, are the most common type of planet revealed by exoplanet surveys over the last quarter century. Results from NASA's Kepler mission have revealed a bimodality in the radius distribution of these objects, with a relative underabundance of planets between 1.5 and 2.0 $R_{\oplus}$. This bimodality suggests that sub-Neptunes are mostly rocky planets that were born with primary atmospheres a few percent by mass accreted from the protoplanetary nebula. Planets above the radiu…
Using observations of escaping H/He to constrain the atmospheric composition of sub-Neptunes
Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge（剑桥大学天体物理研究所）；Astrophysics Group, Department of Physics, Imperial College London（帝国理工学院物理系天体物理组）；Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz（加州大学圣克鲁斯分校天文与天体物理系）
Escape of Water- and Metal-enriched Atmospheres from compact Hot mini-Neptunes with CHAIN
University of Bern（伯尔尼大学）；Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences（奥地利科学院空间研究所）；European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC)（欧洲空间局（ESA）欧洲空间研究与技术中心（ESTEC））；Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Chicago（芝加哥大学天文与天体物理系）
We present the first comprehensive look at the $0.35-5$ $μ$m transmission spectrum of the warm ($\sim 800$ K) Neptune HAT-P-11b derived from thirteen individual transits observed using the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. Along with the previously published molecular absorption feature in the $1.1-1.7$ $μ$m bandpass, we detect a distinct absorption feature at 1.15 $μ$m and a weak feature at 0.95 $μ$m, indicating the presence of water and/or methane with a combined significance of 4.4 $σ$. We find that this planet's nearly flat optical transmission spectrum and attenuated near-infrared mole…
We use Keck/NIRSPEC to survey a sample of of young ($<$1 Gyr), short period mini Neptunes orbiting nearby K dwargs to measure their mass loss via the metastable helium line. We detect helium absorption from all four of the targets in our initial sample. The first detection, around TOI 560b, was announced in a previous paper. We now announce three additional detections around TOI 1430.01, 2076b, and TOI 1683.01. All four planets show an average in-transit excess absorption of 0.7--1.0%. However, the outflows differ in their kinematic properties. TOI 1430b exhibits pre-ingress absorption, while …
The atmospheric composition of exoplanets with masses between 2 and 10 M$_\oplus$ is poorly understood. In that regard, the sub-Neptune K2-18b, which is subject to Earth-like stellar irradiation, offers a valuable opportunity for the characterisation of such atmospheres. Previous analyses of its transmission spectrum from the Kepler, Hubble (HST), and Spitzer space telescopes data using both retrieval algorithms and forward-modelling suggest the presence of H$_2$O and an H$_2$--He atmosphere, but have not detected other gases, such as CH$_4$. We present simulations of the atmosphere of K2-18 b…
We present significant differences in the simulated atmospheric flow for warm, tidally-locked small Neptunes and super Earths (based on a nominal GJ 1214b) when solving the simplified, and commonly used, primitive dynamical equations or the full Navier-Stokes equations. The dominant prograde, superrotating zonal jet is markedly different between the simulations which are performed using practically identical numerical setups, within the same model. The differences arise due to the breakdown of the so-called `shallow-fluid' and traditional approximations, which worsens when rotation rates are s…
WINERED Detects a Strong Atmospheric Outflow on the Sub-Neptune GJ 3090b
Carnegie Science Observatories（卡内基科学观测站）；Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；Washington University, St. Louis（圣路易斯华盛顿大学）；Space Telescope Science Institute（太空望远镜科学研究所）；University of Chicago（芝加哥大学）；Arizona State University（亚利桑那州立大学）
Numerous solar system atmospheres possess aerosols including the characteristic organic hazes of Titan and Pluto. Haze particles substantially impact atmospheric temperatures structures and may provide organic material to the surface of a world, thereby affecting its habitability. Observations of exoplanet atmospheres suggest the presence of aerosols, especially in cooler (<800 K), smaller (<0.3 times Jupiter's mass) exoplanets. It remains unclear if the aerosols muting the spectroscopic features of exoplanet atmospheres are condensate clouds or photochemical hazes, which is difficult to predi…
Direct imaging of widely separated exoplanets from space will obtain their reflected light spectra and measure their atmospheric properties, and small and temperate planets will be the focus of the next generation telescopes. In this work, we used our Bayesian retrieval algorithm ExoReL$^{\Re}$ to determine the constraints on the atmospheric properties of sub-Neptune planets from observations taken with a HabEx-like telescope. Small and temperate planets may have a non-H$_2$-dominated atmosphere, and therefore, we introduced the compositional analysis technique in our framework to explore the …
