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arXiv 2005.08880astro-ph.EP
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光化学雾产生的系外行星透射光谱中的超瑞利斜率

Super-Rayleigh Slopes in Transmission Spectra of Exoplanets Generated by Photochemical Haze

Kazumasa Ohno, Yui Kawashima

摘要:

系外行星大气的光学透射光谱中的光谱斜率包含了关于外来云特性的信息。该斜率通常归因于微小气溶胶颗粒引起的瑞利散射,而最近的反演研究表明,斜率往往比典型的瑞利斜率更陡。在这里,我们建议,在激烈的混合大气中形成的光化学烟雾可以解释这种超瑞利斜率。我们首先分析表明,光谱斜率可以陡峭的垂直不透明度梯度,其中大气不透明度随高度增加。使用微物理模型,我们表明,这种不透明度梯度可以自然产生的光化学霾,特别是当涡流混合是相当有效的。根据霾质量通量和涡旋扩散系数,霾大气的透射谱可划分为四个典型区域。我们发现,如果涡动扩散系数足够高,霾质量通量落在中等值,透射谱的谱斜率可以比Rayleigh斜率陡2- 4倍。根据最近对大气环流的研究所提出的涡动扩散系数,我们认为在平衡温度为1000- 1500 K的行星上,光化学霾优先产生超瑞利斜率,这可能与最近的反演研究结果相一致。我们的研究结果将有助于从霾形成的角度解释光谱斜率的观测结果。

英文摘要:

Spectral slopes in optical transmission spectra of exoplanetary atmospheres encapsulate information on the properties of exotic clouds. The slope is usually attributed to the Rayleigh scattering caused by tiny aerosol particles, whereas recent retrieval studies have suggested that the slopes are often steeper than the canonical Rayleigh slopes. Here, we propose that photochemical haze formed in vigorously mixing atmospheres can explain such super-Rayleigh slopes. We first analytically show that the spectral slope can be steepened by the vertical opacity gradient in which atmospheric opacity increases with altitude. Using a microphysical model, we demonstrate that such opacity gradient can be naturally generated by photochemical haze, especially when the eddy mixing is substantially efficient. The transmission spectra of hazy atmospheres can be demarcated into four typical regimes in terms of the haze mass flux and eddy diffusion coefficient. We find that the transmission spectrum can have the spectral slope 2--4 times steeper than the Rayleigh slope if the eddy diffusion coefficient is sufficiently high and the haze mass flux falls into a moderate value. Based on the eddy diffusion coefficient suggested by a recent study of atmospheric circulations, we suggest that photochemical haze preferentially generates super-Rayleigh slopes at planets with equilibrium temperature of 1000--1500 K, which might be consistent with results of recent retrieval studies. Our results would help to interpret the observations of spectral slopes from the perspective of haze formation.

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