Spectral features in the observed spectra of exoplanets depend on the composition of their atmospheres. A good knowledge of the main atmospheric processes that drive the chemical distribution is therefore essential to interpret exoplanetary spectra. An atmosphere reaches chemical equilibrium if the rates of the forward and backward chemical reactions converge to the same value. However, there are atmospheric processes, such as atmospheric transport, that destabilize this equilibrium. In this work we study the changes in composition driven by a 3D wind field in WASP-43b using our Global Circulation Model, THOR. Our model uses validated temperature- and pressure-dependent chemical timescales that allow us to explore the disequilibrium chemistry of CO, CO$_2$, H$_2$O and CH$_4$. In WASP-43b the formation of the equatorial jet has an important impact in the chemical distribution of the different species across the atmosphere. At low latitudes the chemistry is longitudinally quenched, except for CO$_2$ at solar abundances. The polar vortexes have a distinct chemical distribution since these are regions with lower temperature and atmospheric mixing. Vertical and latitudinal mixing have a secondary impact in the chemical transport. We determine graphically the effect of disequilibrium on observed emission spectra. Our results do not show any significant differences in the emission spectra between the equilibrium and disequilibrium solutions for C/O = 0.5. However, if C/O is increased to 2.0, differences in the spectra due to the disequilibrium chemistry of CH$_4$ become non-negligible. In some spectral ranges the emission spectra can have more than 15$\%$ departures from the equilibrium solution.
The retrieval approach is currently a standard method for deriving atmospheric properties from observed spectra of exoplanets. However, the approach ignores disequilibrium chemistry in most current retrieval codes, which can lead to misinterpretation of the metallicity or elemental abundance ratios of the atmosphere. We have implemented the disequilibrium effect of vertical mixing or quenching for the major species in hydrogen/helium-dominated atmospheres, namely $\mathrm{CH_4}$, $\mathrm{CO}$, $\mathrm{H_2O}$, $\mathrm{NH_3}$, $\mathrm{N_2}$, and $\mathrm{CO_2}$, for the spectral retrieval co…
The hot Jupiter WASP-43b has now joined the ranks of transiting hot Jupiters HD 189733b and HD 209458b as an exoplanet with a large array of observational constraints on its atmospheric properties. Because WASP-43b receives a similar stellar flux as HD 209458b but has a rotation rate 4 times faster and a much higher gravity, studying WASP-43b serves as a test of the effect of rotation rate and gravity on the circulation when stellar irradiation is held approximately constant. Here we present 3D atmospheric circulation models of WASP-43b using the SPARC/MITgcm, a coupled radiation and circulati…
We present a study of photochemical hazes of exoplanet atmospheres based on a self-consistent model including haze microphysics, disequilibrium chemistry, and radiative feedbacks. We derive the haze properties required to match HST observations of ten hot-Jupiters. HAT-P-12b, HD-189733b, HD-209458b and WASP-6b require haze mass fluxes between 5x10$^{-15}$ and 9x10$^{-12} g.cm^{-2}.s^{-1}$ to match the observations. WASP-12b and WASP-19b with equilibrium temperatures above 2000 K are incompatible with the presence of haze and are better fitted by heavy metals. HAT-P-1b and WASP-31b do not show …
Simulations with a 3D general circulation model (GCM) suggest that one potential driver behind the observed radius inflation in hot Jupiters may be the downward advection of energy from the highly irradiated photosphere into the deeper layers. Here, we compare dynamical heat transport within the non-inflated hot Jupiter WASP-43b and the canonical inflated hot Jupiter HD 209458b, with similar effective temperatures. We investigate to what extent the radiatively driven heating and cooling in the photosphere (at pressures smaller than 1 bar) influence the deeper temperature profile (at pressures …
High-resolution spectra are unique indicators of three-dimensional processes in exoplanetary atmospheres. For instance, in 2020, Ehrenreich et al. reported transmission spectra from the ESPRESSO spectrograph yielding an anomalously large Doppler blueshift from the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-76b. Interpretations of these observations invoke toy model depictions of gas-phase iron condensation in lower-temperature regions of the planet's atmosphere. In this work, we forward model the atmosphere of WASP-76b with double-gray general circulation models (GCMs) and ray-striking radiative transfer to diagn…
We aim to see if the difference between equilibrium and disequilibrium chemistry is observable in the atmospheres of transiting planets by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We perform a case study comparing the dayside emission spectra of three planets like HD 189733b, WASP-80b, and GJ436b, in and out of chemical equilibrium at two metallicities each. These three planets were chosen because they span a large range of planetary masses and equilibrium temperatures, from hot and Jupiter-sized to warm and Neptune-sized. We link the one-dimensional disequilibrium chemistry model from Venot et …
The hot Jupiter WASP-12b is a heavily irradiated exoplanet in a short period orbit around a G0-star with twice the metallicity of the Sun. A recent thermochemical equilibrium analysis based on Spitzer and ground-based infrared observations suggests that the presence of $\ch4$ in its atmosphere and the lack of $\h2o$ features can only be explained if the carbon-to-oxygen ratio in the planet's atmosphere is much greater than the solar ratio ($\ctoo = 0.54$). Here, we use a 1-D photochemical model to study the effect of disequilibrium chemistry on the observed abundances of $\h2o, \com, \co2$ and…
Ultra-hot Jupiters represent an exciting avenue for testing extreme physics and observing atmospheric circulation regimes not found in our solar system. Their high temperatures result in thermally ionized particles embedded in atmospheric winds interacting with the planet's interior magnetic field by generating current and experiencing bulk Lorentz force drag. Previous treatments of magnetic drag in 3D General Circulation Models (GCMs) of ultra-hot Jupiters have mostly been uniform drag timescales applied evenly throughout the planet, which neglects the strong spatial dependence of these magne…
The large radii of many hot Jupiters can only be matched by models that have hot interior adiabats, and recent theoretical work has shown that the interior evolution of hot Jupiters has a significant impact on their atmospheric structure. Due to its inflated radius, low gravity, and ultra-hot equilibrium temperature, WASP-76b is an ideal case study for the impact of internal evolution on observable properties. Hot interiors should most strongly affect the non-irradiated side of the planet, and thus full phase curve observations are critical to ascertain the effect of the interior on the atmosp…
Motivated by recent spectroscopic evidence for carbon-rich atmospheres on some transiting exoplanets, we investigate the influence of the C/O ratio on the chemistry, composition, and spectra of extrasolar giant planets both from a thermochemical-equilibrium perspective and from consideration of disequilibrium processes like photochemistry and transport-induced quenching. We find that although CO is predicted to be a major atmospheric constituent on hot Jupiters for all C/O ratios, other oxygen-bearing molecules like H2O and CO2 are much more abundant when C/O < 1, whereas CH4, HCN, and C2H2 ga…
Assessing robustness and bias in 1D retrievals of 3D Global Circulation Models at high spectral resolution: a WASP-76 b simulation case study in emission
The Days Drag On on WASP-121 b: Interpreting its NIRISS Spectroscopic Phase Curve with General Circulation Models
University of Michigan（密歇根大学）；Trottier Space Institute at McGill（麦吉尔大学特罗蒂尔太空研究所）；McGill University（麦吉尔大学）；Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学李政道研究所）；Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学）；Université Côte d’Azur（蔚蓝海岸大学）；Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur（蔚蓝海岸天文台）；Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院喷气推进实验室）；Planétarium de Montréal, Espace pour la Vie（蒙特利尔天文馆生命空间）
Observations of ultra-hot Jupiters indicate the existence of thermal inversion in their atmospheres with day-side temperatures greater than 2200 K. Various physical mechanisms such as non-local thermal equilibrium, cloud formation, disequilibrium chemistry, ionisation, hydrodynamic waves and associated energy, have been omitted in previous spectral retrievals while they play an important role on the thermal structure of their upper atmospheres.We aim at exploring the atmospheric properties of WASP-19b to understand its largely featureless thermal spectra using a state-of-the-art atmosphere cod…
Inhomogeneous magnetic coupling in exoplanets: the stop & go of WASP-18 b's atmospheric flows
Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences（奥地利科学院空间研究所）；Institute for Theoretical Physics and Computational Physics, Graz University of Technology（格拉茨工业大学理论与计算物理研究所）
The tale of the 3 planets: 3D cloud feedback enhances the spectral diversity of warm Jupiters
Université de la Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange（蔚蓝海岸大学，蔚蓝海岸天文台）；Tsung-Dao Lee Institute & School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学李政道研究所与物理天文学院）；Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern（伯尔尼大学空间与宜居中心）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University（密歇根州立大学物理与天文系）；California Institute of Technology/IPAC（加州理工学院/IPAC）；Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin–Madison（威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校天文学系）；AURA for the European Space Agency (ESA), Space Telescope Science Institute（欧洲航天局（ESA）授权的AURA机构，太空望远镜科学研究所）；Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz（加州大学圣克鲁兹分校天文学与天体物理学系）；School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University（亚利桑那州立大学地球与空间探索学院）
Ultra-hot Jupiters (UHJs) are expected to possess temperature inversion layers in their dayside atmospheres. Recent thermal emission observations have discovered several atomic and molecular species along with temperature inversions in UHJs. We observed the thermal emission spectra of two UHJs (WASP-33b and WASP-189b) with the GIANO-B high-resolution near-infrared spectrograph. Using the cross-correlation technique, we detected carbon monoxide (CO) in the dayside atmospheres of both planets. The detected CO lines are in emission, which agrees with previous discoveries of iron emission lines an…
Limb Asymmetries on WASP-39b: A Multi-GCM Comparison of Chemistry, Clouds, and Hazes
University of Chicago（芝加哥大学）；Max Planck Institute for Astronomy（马克斯·普朗克天文学研究所）；University of Maryland（马里兰大学）；Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences（奥地利科学院空间研究所）；University of California, Riverside（加州大学河滨分校）；Academia Sinica（中央研究院）；University of Bern（伯尔尼大学）；Universitäts-Sternwarte München, Fakultät für Physik der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität（慕尼黑大学天文台，物理学院）；University of Michigan（密歇根大学）；KU Leuven（荷语鲁汶大学）
The atmospheres of ultra hot Jupiters (UHJs) are prime targets for the detection of molecules and atoms at both low and high spectral resolution. We study the atmospheres of the UHJs WASP-121b and WASP-189b by performing 3D general circulation models (GCMs) of these planets using high temperature correlated-k opacity schemes with ultra-violet (UV) absorbing species included. The GCM results are then post-processed at low and high spectral resolutions and compared to available data. The high resolution results are cross-correlated with molecular and atomic templates to produce mock molecular de…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expected to revolutionize the field of exoplanets. The broad wavelength coverage and the high sensitivity of its instruments will allow characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres with unprecedented precision. Following the Call for the Cycle 1 Early Release Science Program, the Transiting Exoplanet Community was awarded time to observe several targets, including WASP-43b. The atmosphere of this hot Jupiter has been intensively observed but still harbors some mysteries, especially concerning the day-night temperature gradient, the efficiency of the atm…
We report detections and constraints for the near infrared Ks band secondary eclipses of seven hot-Jupiters using the IRIS2 infrared camera on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Eclipses in the Ks band for WASP-18b and WASP-36b have been measured for the first time. We also present new measurements for the eclipses of WASP-4b, WASP-5b, and WASP-46b, as well as upper limits for the eclipse depths of WASP-2b and WASP-76b. In particular, two full eclipses of WASP-46b were observed, allowing us to demonstrate the repeatability of our observations via independent analyses on each eclipse. Significant …
Recently acquired Hubble and Spitzer phase curves of the short-period hot Jupiter WASP-43b make it an ideal target for confronting theory with data. On the observational front, we re-analyze the 3.6 and 4.5 $μ$m Spitzer phase curves and demonstrate that our improved analysis better removes residual red noise due to intra-pixel sensitivity, which leads to greater fluxes emanating from the nightside of WASP-43b, thus reducing the tension between theory and data. On the theoretical front, we construct cloudfree and cloudy atmospheres of WASP-43b using our Global Circulation Model (GCM), THOR, whi…
The field of exo-atmospheric characterisation is progressing at an extraordinary pace. Atmospheric observations are now available for tens of exoplanets, mainly hot and warm inflated gas giants, and new molecular species continue to be detected revealing a richer atmospheric composition than previously expected. Thanks to its warm equilibrium temperature (963$\pm$18~K) and low-density (0.219$\pm$0.031~g cm$^{-3}$), the close-in gas giant WASP-69b represents a golden target for atmospheric characterization. With the aim of searching for molecules in the atmosphere of WASP-69b and investigating …
Chemical Tracers for 3D Atmospheric Asymmetries on WASP-69 b
Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences（奥地利科学院空间研究所）；Institute for Theoretical and Computational Physics, Graz University of Technology（格拉茨工业大学理论与计算物理研究所）；Space Research and Planetary Sciences, Physics Institute, University of Bern（伯尔尼大学物理学院空间研究与行星科学系）；Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge（剑桥大学卡文迪许实验室）
Inferences of molecular compositions of exoplanetary atmospheres have generally focused on C, H, and O-bearing molecules. Recently, additional absorption in HST WFC3 transmission spectra around 1.55$μ$m has been attributed to nitrogen-bearing chemical species: NH$_3$ or HCN. These species, if present in significant abundance, would be strong indicators of disequilibrium chemical processes -- e.g. vertical mixing and photochemistry. The derived N abundance, in turn, could also place important constraints on planetary formation mechanisms. Here, we examine the detectability of nitrogen chemistry…
Detections of molecules in the atmosphere of gas giant exoplanets allow us to investigate the physico-chemical properties of the atmospheres. Their inferred chemical composition is used as tracer of planet formation and evolution mechanisms. Currently, an increasing number of detections is showing a possible rich chemistry of the hotter gaseous planets, but whether this extends to cooler giants is still unknown. We observed four transits of WASP-80 b, a warm transiting giant planet orbiting a late-K dwarf star with the near-infrared GIANO-B spectrograph installed at the Telescopio Nazionale Ga…
On hot Jupiter exoplanets, strong horizontal and vertical winds should homogenize the abundances of the important absorbers CH$_4$ and CO much faster than chemical reactions restore chemical equilibrium. This effect, typically neglected in general circulation models (GCMs), has been suggested as explanation for discrepancies between observed infrared lightcurves and those predicted by GCMs: On the nightsides of several hot Jupiters, GCMs predict outgoing fluxes that are too large, especially in the Spitzer 4.5 $μ$m band. We modified the SPARC/MITgcm to include disequilibrium abundances of CH$_…
We provide a new framework to model the day side and night side atmospheres of irradiated exoplanets using 1-D radiative transfer by incorporating a self-consistent heat flux carried by circulation currents (winds) between the two sides. The advantages of our model are its physical motivation and computational efficiency, which allows for an exploration of a wide range of atmospheric parameters. We use this forward model to explore the day and night side atmosphere of WASP-76~b, an ultra-hot Jupiter which shows evidence for a thermal inversion and Fe condensation, and WASP-43~b, comparing our …
CONTEXT: Thermal emission from extrasolar planets makes it possible to study important physical processes in their atmospheres and derive more precise orbital elements. AIMS: By using new near infrared and optical data, we examine how these data constrain the orbital eccentricity and the thermal properties of the planet atmosphere. METHODS: The full light curves acquired by the TESS satellite from two sectors are used to put upper limit on the amplitude of the planet's phase variation and estimate the occultation depth. Two, already published and one, yet unpublished followup observations in t…
GJ436b is a unique member of the transiting extrasolar planet population being one of the smallest and least irradiated and possessing an eccentric orbit. Because of its size, mass and density, GJ436b could plausibly have an atmospheric metallicity similar to Neptune (20-60 times solar abundances), which makes it an ideal target to study the effects of atmospheric metallicity on dynamics and radiative transfer in an extrasolar planetary atmosphere. We present three-dimensional atmospheric circulation models that include realistic non-gray radiative transfer for 1, 3, 10, 30, and 50 times solar…
We have conducted a re-analysis of publicly available Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 (HST WFC3) transmission data for the hot-Jupiter exoplanet WASP-43b, using the Bayesian retrieval package Tau-REx. We report evidence of AlO in transmission to a high level of statistical significance (> 5-sigma in comparison to a flat model, and 3.4-sigma in comparison to a model with H2O only). We find no evidence of the presence of CO, CO2, or CH4 based on the available HST WFC3 data or on Spitzer IRAC data. We demonstrate that AlO is the molecule that fits the data to the highest level of confi…
In this work we present Spitzer 3.6 and 4.5 micron secondary eclipse observations of five new cool (<1200 K) transiting gas giant planets: HAT-P-19b, WASP-6b, WASP-10b, WASP-39b, and WASP-67b. We compare our measured eclipse depths to the predictions of a suite of atmosphere models and to eclipse depths for planets with previously published observations in order to constrain the temperature- and mass-dependent properties of gas giant planet atmospheres. We find that the dayside emission spectra of planets less massive than Jupiter require models with efficient circulation of energy to the nigh…
Ultra-hot Jupiters are tidally locked gas giants with dayside temperatures high enough to dissociate hydrogen and other molecules. Their atmospheres are vastly non-uniform in terms of chemistry, temperature and dynamics, and this makes their high-resolution transmission spectra and cross-correlation signal difficult to interpret. In this work, we use the SPARC/MITgcm global circulation model to simulate the atmosphere of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-76b under different conditions, such as atmospheric drag and the absence of TiO and VO. We then employ a 3D Monte-Carlo radiative transfer code, HIR…
We investigate the effects of atmospheric circulation on the chemistry of the hot Jupiter HD 209458b. We use a simplified dynamical model and a robust chemical network, as opposed to previous studies which have used a three dimensional circulation model coupled to a simple chemical kinetics scheme. The temperature structure and distribution of the main atmospheric constituents are calculated in the limit of an atmosphere that rotates as a solid body with an equatorial rotation rate of 1 km/s. Such motion mimics a uniform zonal wind which resembles the equatorial superrotation structure found b…
It is well-established that the magnitude of the incident stellar flux is the single most important factor in determining the day-night temperature gradients and atmospheric chemistries of short-period gas giant planets. However it is likely that other factors, such as planet-to-planet variations in atmospheric metallicity, C/O ratio, and cloud properties, also contribute to the observed diversity of infrared spectra for this population of planets. In this study we present new 3.6 and 4.5 micron secondary eclipse measurements for five transiting gas giant planets: HAT-P-5b, HAT-P-38b, WASP-7b,…
We present thermal phase curve measurements for the hot Jupiter WASP-103b observed with Hubble/WFC3 and Spitzer/IRAC. The phase curves have large amplitudes and negligible hotspot offsets, indicative of poor heat redistribution to the nightside. We fit the phase variation with a range of climate maps and find that a spherical harmonics model generally provides the best fit. The phase-resolved spectra are consistent with blackbodies in the WFC3 bandpass, with brightness temperatures ranging from $1880\pm40$ K on the nightside to $2930 \pm 40$ K on the dayside. The dayside spectrum has a signifi…
Exoplanet atmospheres are inherently three-dimensional systems in which thermal/chemical variation and winds can strongly influence spectra. Recently, the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-76 b has shown evidence for condensation and asymmetric Fe absorption with time. However, it is currently unclear whether these asymmetries are driven by chemical or thermal differences between the two limbs, as precise constraints on variation in these have remained elusive due to the challenges of modelling these dynamics in a Bayesian framework. To address this we develop a new model, HyDRA-2D, capable of simultaneo…
Infrared spectroscopy over a wide spectral range and at the highest resolving powers (R>70 000) has proved to be one of the leading technique to unveil the atmospheric composition of dozens of exoplanets. The recently upgraded spectrograph CRIRES instrument at the VLT (CRIRES+) was operative for a first Science Verification in September 2021 and its new capabilities in atmospheric characterisation were ready to be tested. We analysed transmission spectra of the Hot Saturn WASP-20b in the K-band (1981-2394 nm) acquired with CRIRES+, aiming at detecting the signature of H2O and CO. We used Princ…
Cloudy solutions for the clear skies of WASP-80b: 3D cloud feedback on the atmosphere and spectra of a warm Jupiter
Université de la Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange（蔚蓝海岸大学，蔚蓝海岸天文台，法国国家科学研究中心，拉格朗日实验室）；Tsung-Dao Lee Institute & School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（杨振宁研究所与物理与天文学院，上海交通大学）；Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern（太空与宜居中心，伯尔尼大学）；Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学应用物理实验室）；Space Telescope Science Institute（太空望远镜科学研究所）；Steward Observatory（斯图尔德天文台）；Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin–Madison（天文学系，威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校）；Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California at Santa Cruz（天文学与天体物理学系，加州大学圣克鲁兹分校）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University（物理与天文学系，约翰斯·霍普金斯大学）；California Institute of Technology（加利福尼亚理工学院）
A Panchromatic Characterization of the Evening and Morning Atmosphere of WASP-107 b: Composition and Cloud Variations, and Insight into the Effect of Stellar Contamination
本研究利用 JWST 全部仪器重新分析 WASP-107 b 的临边透射光谱，确认黄昏-黎明温度差异，发现 SO₂、CO₂ 及云层分布不对称，并揭示星斑污染对临边测量的偏差及校正方法。
Harnessing machine learning for accurate treatment of overlapping opacity species in general circulation models
Niels Bohr Institute（尼尔斯·玻尔研究所）；KU Leuven（荷语鲁汶大学）；Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie（马克斯·普朗克天文研究所）；University of Liège（列日大学）；Austrian Academy of Sciences（奥地利科学院）
A Physically Driven Parameterisation of Multidimensional Atmospheres: Application to the JWST Phase Curve of WASP-121b
CAS Key Laboratory of Planetary Sciences, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院行星科学重点实验室，紫金山天文台）；University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学）；Tsung-Dao Lee Institute & School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交大李政道研究所与物理与天文学院）；University of Oxford（牛津大学）；University of California, Santa Cruz（加州大学圣克鲁兹分校）；University of Newcastle（纽卡斯尔大学）；Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie（马克斯·普朗克天文学研究所）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias（加那利群岛天体物理研究所）；Universidad de La Laguna（拉各纳大学）；University of Hawai‘i（夏威夷大学）
