The recently adopted Ariel ESA mission will measure the atmospheric composition of a large number of exoplanets. This information will then be used to better constrain planetary bulk compositions. While the connection between the composition of a planetary atmosphere and the bulk interior is still being investigated, the combination of the atmospheric composition with the measured mass and radius of exoplanets will push the field of exoplanet characterisation to the next level, and provide new insights of the nature of planets in our galaxy. In this white paper, we outline the ongoing activities of the interior working group of the {\it Ariel} mission, and list the desirable theoretical developments as well as the challenges in linking planetary atmospheres, bulk composition and interior structure.
The ARIEL Space Telescope will provide a large and diverse sample of exoplanet spectra, performing spectroscopic observations of about 1000 exoplanets in the wavelength range $0.5 \to 7.8 \; μm$. In this paper, we investigate the information content of ARIEL's Reconnaissance Survey low resolution transmission spectra. Among the goals of the ARIEL Reconnaissance Survey is also to identify planets without molecular features in their atmosphere. In this work, (1) we present a strategy that will allow to select candidate planets to be reobserved in a ARIEL's higher resolution Tier; (2) we propose …
Launching in 2028, ESA's Atmospheric Remote-sensing Exoplanet Large-survey (ARIEL) survey of $\sim$1000 transiting exoplanets will build on the legacies of Kepler and TESS and complement JWST by placing its high precision exoplanet observations into a large, statistically-significant planetary population context. With continuous 0.5--7.8~$μ$m coverage from both FGS (0.50--0.55, 0.8--1.0, and 1.0--1.2~$μ$m photometry; 1.25--1.95~$μ$m spectroscopy) and AIRS (1.95--7.80~$μ$m spectroscopy), ARIEL will determine atmospheric compositions and probe planetary formation histories during its 3.5-year mi…
The study of extrasolar planets and of the Solar System provides complementary pieces of the mosaic represented by the process of planetary formation. Exoplanets are essential to fully grasp the huge diversity of outcomes that planetary formation and the subsequent evolution of the planetary systems can produce. The orbital and basic physical data we currently possess for the bulk of the exoplanetary population, however, do not provide enough information to break the intrinsic degeneracy of their histories, as different evolutionary tracks can result in the same final configurations. The lesso…
Ariel has been selected as ESA's M4 mission for launch in 2028 and is designed for the characterisation of a large and diverse population of exoplanetary atmospheres to provide insights into planetary formation and evolution within our Galaxy. Here we present a study of Ariel's capability to observe currently-known exoplanets and predicted TESS discoveries. We use the Ariel Radiometric model (ArielRad) to simulate the instrument performance and find that ~2000 of these planets have atmospheric signals which could be characterised by Ariel. This list of potential planets contains a diverse rang…
Ariel Tier 3 Observations: An Opportunity to Explore both Stellar and Planetary Variability through Broad Wavelength Time-domain Spectroscopy
INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo（意大利国家天体物理研究所巴勒莫天文台）；ESA/ESTEC Science Engagement and Oversight Office (SCI-E) Directorate of Science (SCI)（欧洲空间局/欧洲空间研究与技术中心科学参与和监督办公室（SCI-E）科学司（SCI））
Since the first discovery of an extra-solar planet around a main-sequence star, in 1995, the number of detected exoplanets has increased enormously. Over the past two decades, observational instruments (both onboard and on ground-based facilities) have revealed an astonishing diversity in planetary physical features (i. e. mass and radius), and orbital parameters (e.g. period, semi-major axis, inclination). Exoplanetary atmospheres provide direct clues to understand the origin of these differences through their observable spectral imprints. In the near future, upcoming ground and space-based t…
Probing Exoplanetary Chemistry with Ariel: Scientific Priorities and Observational Strategies
Univ. Grenoble Alpes CNRS IPAG（格勒诺布尔阿尔卑斯大学法国国家科学研究中心IPAG实验室）；Université Paris Cité and Univ Paris Est Creteil CNRS LISA（巴黎西岱大学和巴黎东 Créteil大学法国国家科学研究中心LISA实验室）；SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research（荷兰空间研究所）；Leiden Observatory Leiden University（莱顿大学莱顿天文台）；Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy University of Amsterdam（阿姆斯特丹大学安东·潘内克天文学研究所）；IRAP Université de Toulouse CNRS/UMR 5277 UPS-OMP（图卢兹大学法国国家科学研究中心IRAP研究所）；Institute（研究所）
Identifying deformed exoplanets with JWST and Ariel: A target selection metric for phase curve observations
Leiden University（莱顿大学）；SRON, Space Research Organisation Netherlands（荷兰空间研究组织）；Observatoire astronomique de l’Université de Genève（日内瓦大学天文台）；University of New South Wales（新南威尔士大学）；Universidad de Antioquia（安蒂奥基亚大学）
The study of extra-solar planets, or simply, exoplanets, planets outside our own Solar System, is fundamentally a grand quest to understand our place in the Universe. Discoveries in the last two decades have re-defined our understanding of planets, and helped us comprehend the uniqueness of our very own Earth. In recent years the focus has shifted from planet detection to planet characterisation, where key planetary properties are inferred from telescope observations using Monte Carlo-based methods. However, the efficiency of sampling-based methodologies is put under strain by the high-resolut…
This paper is part of an effort to correct the transmission spectra of a transiting planet orbiting an active star. In Paper I (Cracchiolo et al. 2020) we have demonstrated a methodology to minimize the potential bias induced by unocculted star spots on the transmission spectrum, assuming a spot model parameterized by filling factor and temperature. In this work we introduce the limb darkening effect, therefore the position of the spot in the stellar disk and the impact parameter of the transiting planet now play a key role. The method is tested on simulations of planetary transits of three re…
This is an exciting era for exo-planetary exploration. The recently launched JWST, and other upcoming space missions such as Ariel, Twinkle and ELTs are set to bring fresh insights to the convoluted processes of planetary formation and evolution and its connections to atmospheric compositions. However, with new opportunities come new challenges. The field of exoplanet atmospheres is already struggling with the incoming volume and quality of data, and machine learning (ML) techniques lands itself as a promising alternative. Developing techniques of this kind is an inter-disciplinary task, one t…
The Origins of Planets for ArieL (OPAL) Key Science Project: the end-to-end planet formation campaign for the ESA space mission Ariel
INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino（意大利国家天体物理研究所都灵天文台）；Centro Nazionale di Ricerca in High Performance Computing, Big Data and Quantum Computing（高性能计算、大数据与量子计算国家研究中心）；INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali（意大利国家天体物理研究所天体物理学与行星科学研究所）；INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste（意大利国家天体物理研究所的里雅斯特天文台）
The Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey mission (ARIEL) is one of the three present candidates for the ESA M4 (the fourth medium mission) launch opportunity. The proposed Payload will perform a large unbiased spectroscopic survey from space concerning the nature of exoplanets atmospheres and their interiors to determine the key factors affecting the formation and evolution of planetary systems. ARIEL will observe a large number (>500) of warm and hot transiting gas giants, Neptunes and super-Earths around a wide range of host star types, targeting planets hotter than 600…
Atmospheric retrievals on exoplanets usually involve computationally intensive Bayesian sampling methods. Large parameter spaces and increasingly complex atmospheric models create a computational bottleneck forcing a trade-off between statistical sampling accuracy and model complexity. It is especially true for upcoming JWST and ARIEL observations. We introduce ExoGAN, the Exoplanet Generative Adversarial Network, a new deep learning algorithm able to recognise molecular features, atmospheric trace-gas abundances and planetary parameters using unsupervised learning. Once trained, ExoGAN is wid…
Ariel, the Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey, was adopted as the fourth medium-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision programme to be launched in 2029. During its 4-year mission, Ariel will study what exoplanets are made of, how they formed and how they evolve, by surveying a diverse sample of about 1000 extrasolar planets, simultaneously in visible and infrared wavelengths. It is the first mission dedicated to measuring the chemical composition and thermal structures of hundreds of transiting exoplanets, enabling planetary science far beyond the boundaries of the Solar …
Although carbon monoxide (CO) is an abundant molecule and may have great importance for planetary interiors, measurements of its properties are difficult due to its extreme volatility. We calculate the equation of state for CO over a range of temperature and density that is applicable to the conditions in planetary interiors. Previous experimental and theoretical studies cover only a limited temperature-density range. Our calculations match these early results well, but now cover the full range of relevance. The method of calculation is based on the general-purpose quotidian equation of state …
Magrathea v2: A planetary interior modeling platform in C++
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院上海天文台）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas（内华达大学拉斯维加斯分校物理与天文学系）；Department of Physics, Ariel University（阿里埃勒大学物理系）；Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin–Madison（威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校天文学系）；Department of Earth and Space Science, University of Washington（华盛顿大学地球与空间科学系）；Astrophysics Research Center (ARCO), Department of Natural Sciences, The Open University of Israel（以色列开放大学自然科学学院天体物理研究中心）
Magrathea v2 是一个开源的 C++ 行星内部建模平台，扩展了成分支持，新增成分反演工具，并提高了用户自定义模型的灵活性。
Small telescopes equiped with modern instrumentation are gaining on importance, especially, in the era of exoplanetary space missions such as TESS, PLATO and ARIEL. Crucial part of every planet hunting mission is now a ground-based follow-up of detectd planetary candidates. Mid-sized telescopes with apertures of 2 to 4-m with an existing instrumentation become more and more valued due to increasing need for observing time. In this paper, a brief overview on the follow-up process for exoplanetary space missions will be given. Requirements for the ground-based follow-up instrumentation will be d…
Towards a Comprehensive Understanding of Planetary Systems through Population-Level, Large-Scale Surveys
Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC（安达卢西亚天体物理研究所）；Centro Astronómico Hispano en Andalucía, Observatorio de Calar Alto（西班牙-安达卢西亚天文中心，卡拉阿托天文台）；Astrophotonics (innoFSPEC), Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP)（莱布尼茨波茨坦天体物理研究所）；Institut für Physik und Astronomie, Universität Potsdam（波茨坦大学物理与天文学研究所）；Sydney Institute for Astronomy, The University of Sydney（悉尼大学悉尼天体物理研究所）
Since the first discovery of a planet outside of our Solar System in 1995, exoplanet research has shifted from detecting to characterizing worlds around other stars. The TESS (NASA, launched 2019) and PLATO mission (ESA, planned launch 2026) will find and constrain the size of thousands of exoplanets around bright stars all over the sky. Radial velocity measurements are needed to characterize the orbit and mass, and complete the picture of densities and composition of the exoplanet systems found. The Ariel mission (ESA, planned launch 2028) will characterize exoplanet atmospheres with infrared…
A user-friendly package and workflow for generating effective homogeneous rheologies for the study of the long-term orbital evolution of multilayered planetary bodies
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)（阿卜杜拉国王科技大学）
