arXivDaily arXiv每日学术速递 周一至周五更新
arXiv 2007.02651astro-ph.EP
收藏

未来冰巨人探索的系外行星视角

The Exoplanet Perspective on Future Ice Giant Exploration

H. R. Wakeford, P. A. Dalba

摘要:

系外行星的数量数以千计,而且随着新的调查和改进的仪器的出现,数量还在不断增加。我们从这些发现中了解到的最令人惊讶的事情之一不是在其恒星宜居带中的小岩石行星可能很常见,而是最典型的系外行星尺寸是在我们的太阳系中看不到的-半径介于海王星和地球之间,被称为迷你海王星和超级地球。事实上,一颗凌日系外行星处于这种大小范围的可能性是我们太阳系中任何巨行星的四倍。对巨大的氢/氦主导的系外行星的大气层的调查已经推到海王星和迷你海王星大小的世界,揭示了水的分子吸收,云的散射和不透明度,以及大气丰度的测量。然而,与木星甚至土星大小的世界的测量不同,较小的巨人缺乏对测量结果的期望或解释的基本事实。这些大小的世界是如何形成和演化的,它与它们的大世界有什么不同?它们的内部成分是什么,这对它们的大气层有什么影响?是什么影响了这些遥远星球的能量收支?在这篇文章中,我们讨论了我们可以测量系外行星的哪些特征,以及为什么对我们太阳系中的冰巨星的任务是理解系外行星的合乎逻辑的下一步。

英文摘要:

Exoplanets number in their thousands, and the number is ever increasing with the advent of new surveys and improved instrumentation. One of the most surprising things we have learnt from these discoveries is not that small-rocky planets in their stars habitable zones are likely common, but that the most typical size of exoplanet is that not seen in our solar system - radii between that of Neptune and the Earth dubbed mini-Neptunes and super-Earths. In fact, a transiting exoplanet is four times as likely to be in this size regime than that of any giant planet in our solar system. Investigations into the atmospheres of giant hydrogen/helium dominated exoplanets has pushed down to Neptune and mini-Neptune sized worlds revealing molecular absorption from water, scattering and opacity from clouds, and measurements of atmospheric abundances. However, unlike measurements of Jupiter, or even Saturn sized worlds, the smaller giants lack a ground truth on what to expect or interpret from their measurements. How did these sized worlds form and evolve and was it different from their larger counterparts? What is their internal composition and how does that impact their atmosphere? What informs the energy budget of these distant worlds? In this we discuss what characteristics we can measure for exoplanets, and why a mission to the ice giants in our solar system is the logical next step for understanding exoplanets.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

↑