Volatile-rich Sub-Neptunes as Hydrothermal Worlds: The Case of K2-18 b
Cindy N. Luu, Xinting Yu, Christopher R. Glein, Hamish Innes, Artyom Aguichine, Joshua Krissansen-Totton, Julianne I. Moses, Shang-Min Tsai, Xi Zhang, Ngoc Truo… 展开作者
Cindy N. Luu, Xinting Yu, Christopher R. Glein, Hamish Innes, Artyom Aguichine, Joshua Krissansen-Totton, Julianne I. Moses, Shang-Min Tsai, Xi Zhang, Ngoc Truong, Jonathan J. Fortney
Temperate exoplanets between the sizes of Earth and Neptune, known as "sub-Neptunes", have emerged as intriguing targets for astrobiology. It is unknown whether these planets resemble Earth-like terrestrial worlds with a habitable surface, Neptune-like giant planets with deep atmospheres and no habitable surface, or something exotic in between. Recent JWST transmission spectroscopy observations of the canonical sub-Neptune, K2-18 b, revealed ~1% CH4, ~1% CO2, and a non-detection of CO in the atmosphere. While previous studies proposed that the observed atmospheric composition could help constrain the lower atmosphere's conditions and determine the interior structure of sub-Neptunes like K2-18 b, the possible interactions between the atmosphere and a hot, supercritical water ocean at its base remain unexplored. In this work, we investigate whether a global supercritical water ocean, resembling a planetary-scale hydrothermal system, can explain these observations on K2-18 b-like sub-Neptunes through equilibrium aqueous geochemical calculations. We find that the observed atmospheric CH4/CO2 ratio implies a minimum ocean temperature of ~710 K, whereas the corresponding CO/CO2 ratio allows ocean temperatures up to ~1070 K. These results indicate that a global supercritical water ocean on K2-18 b is plausible. While life cannot survive in such an ocean, this work represents the first step towards understanding how a global supercritical water ocean may influence observable atmospheric characteristics on volatile-rich sub-Neptunes. Future observations with better constrained CO and NH$_3$ mixing ratios could further help distinguish between possible interior compositions of K2-18 b.
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…
Planets with 2 $R_{\oplus}$ < $R$ < 3 $R_{\oplus}$ and orbital period $<$100 d are abundant; these sub-Neptune exoplanets are not well understood. For example, $Kepler$ sub-Neptunes are likely to have deep magma oceans in contact with their atmospheres, but little is known about the effect of the magma on the atmosphere. Here we study this effect using a basic model, assuming that volatiles equilibrate with magma at $T$ $\sim$ 3000 K. For our Fe-Mg-Si-O-H model system, we find that chemical reactions between the magma and the atmosphere and dissolution of volatiles into the magma are both impo…
Many of the confirmed short period super-Earths and smaller sub-Neptunes are sufficiently irradiated for the surface silicates to be sustained in a long-lasting molten state. While there is no direct evidence of magma ocean influence on exoplanets, theory suggests that due to outgassing and diverse evolution paths, a wide range of resulting atmospheric compositions should be possible. Atmospheric contamination caused by the outgassing of the underlying magma ocean is potentially detectable using low resolution spectroscopy. The James Webb Space Telescope provides the necessary spectral coverag…
Water-rich sub-Neptunes and rocky super Earths around different Stars: Radii shaped by Volatile Partitioning, Formation, and Evolution
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy（马克斯·普朗克天文研究所）；Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur（蔚蓝海岸天文台）；ETH Zürich（苏黎世联邦理工学院）；University of Chicago（芝加哥大学）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC)（安达卢西亚天体物理研究所（IAA-CSIC））；University of Zürich（苏黎世大学）
C-complex asteroids, rich in carbonaceous materials, are potential sources of Earth's volatile inventories. They are spectrally dark resembling primitive carbonaceous meteorites, and thus, C-complex asteroids are thought to be potential parent bodies of carbonaceous meteorites. However, the substantial number of C-complex asteroids exhibits surface spectra with weaker hydroxyl absorption than water-rich carbonaceous meteorites. Rather, they best correspond to meteorites showing evidence for dehydration, commonly attributed to impact heating. Here, we report an old radiometric age of 4564.7 mil…
Two extremely irradiated volatile-rich sub-Neptunes with companions in the TOI-426 and TOI-1839 systems: Insights into arrival and survival near the lower edge of the Neptunian desert
Observatoire Astronomique de l’Université de Genève（日内瓦大学天文台）；University of Warwick（华威大学）；University of Oxford（牛津大学）；Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability, University of Warwick（华威系外行星与宜居性中心）；University of California, Santa Cruz（加州大学圣克鲁兹分校）；Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México（墨西哥国立自治大学）；European Space Agency (ESA)（欧洲空间局）；Universidade do Porto（波尔图大学）；Keele University（基尔大学）；NASA Ames Research Center（美国宇航局艾姆斯研究中心）；NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, Caltech/IPAC（NASA系外行星科学研究所/加州理工学院IPAC）；Stephen F. Austin State University（斯蒂芬·F·奥斯汀州立大学）；Princeton University（普林斯顿大学）
Uniform Metallicity Measurements of M Dwarf Planet Hosts Support Metallicity-Dependent Sub-Neptune Formation
McMaster University（麦克马斯特大学）；University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校）；California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院）；San Francisco State University（旧金山州立大学）；Georgia State University（佐治亚州立大学）；RECONS Institute（RECONS研究所）；Flatiron Institute（平顿研究所）
The Role of Formation Location in Shaping Sulfur-, Nitrogen-, and Carbon-Bearing Species in Super-Earth and Sub-Neptune Atmospheres
Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, ETH Zurich（苏黎世联邦理工学院粒子物理与天体物理研究所）；Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles（加州大学洛杉矶分校地球、行星与空间科学系）；Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Université Cote d’Azur, Laboratoire Lagrange（蔚蓝海岸天文台，尼斯大学，拉格朗日实验室）；Department of Space Research and Technology, Technical University of Denmark（丹麦技术大学太空研究与技术系）
Interior models of Uranus and Neptune often assume discrete layers, but sharp interfaces are expected only if major constituents are immiscible. Diffuse interfaces could arise if accretion favored a central concentration of the least volatile constituents (also incidentally the most dense); compositional gradients arising in such a structure would likely inhibit convection. Currently, two lines of evidence suggest possible hydrogen-water immiscibility in ice giant interiors. The first arises from crude extrapolation of the experimental hydrogen-water critical curve to $\sim 3$ GPa (Bali et al.…
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…
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 …
One of the most significant advances by NASA's ${\mathit Kepler}$ Mission was the discovery of an abundant new population of highly irradiated planets with sizes between the Earth and Neptune. Subsequent analysis showed that at ~1.5 Earth radii there is a transition from a population of predominantly rocky super-Earths to non-rocky sub-Neptunes, which must have substantial volatile envelopes. Determining the origin of these highly irradiated rocky planets will be critical to our understanding of low-mass planet formation and the frequency of potentially habitable Earth-like planets. These shor…
Resolving core-envelope degeneracies in giant planets and sub-Neptunes: constraining the equivalence in the presence of dilute gradients
Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité, CY Cergy Paris Université（巴黎天文台，PSL大学，索邦大学，巴黎西岱大学，塞吉-蓬图瓦兹大学）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）；Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Université Côte d’Azur（蔚蓝海岸天文台，蔚蓝海岸大学）
Impact of Clouds on the Atmosphere-Mantle Interface of Sub-Neptunes
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）；Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin（德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校天文学系）；NASA Ames Research Center（NASA艾姆斯研究中心）；SETI Institute（SETI研究所）
We report the discovery of NGTS-4b, a sub-Neptune-sized planet transiting a 13th magnitude K-dwarf in a 1.34d orbit. NGTS-4b has a mass M=$20.6\pm3.0$M_E and radius R=$3.18\pm0.26$R_E, which places it well within the so-called "Neptunian Desert". The mean density of the planet ($3.45\pm0.95$g/cm^3) is consistent with a composition of 100% H$_2$O or a rocky core with a volatile envelope. NGTS-4b is likely to suffer significant mass loss due to relatively strong EUV/X-ray irradiation. Its survival in the Neptunian desert may be due to an unusually high core mass, or it may have avoided the most …
Most Rocky Sub-Neptunes are Molten: Mapping the Solidification Shoreline for Gas Dwarf Exoplanets
Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge（剑桥大学天文研究所）；Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge（剑桥大学地球科学系）；Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Planetary Physics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford（牛津大学物理学院大气、海洋与行星物理组）；Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen（格罗宁根大学卡普坦天文研究所）；Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, ETH Zurich（苏黎世联邦理工学院地球与行星科学系）
This paper reports on the validation and mass measurement of K2-263b, a sub-Neptune orbiting a quiet G9V star. Using K2 data from campaigns C5 and C16, we find this planet to have a period of $50.818947\pm 0.000094$ days and a radius of $2.41\pm0.12$ R$_{\oplus}$. We followed this system with HARPS-N to obtain 67 precise radial velocities. A combined fit of the transit and radial velocity data reveals that K2-263b has a mass of $14.8\pm3.1$ M$_{\oplus}$. Its bulk density ($5.7_{-1.4}^{+1.6}$ g cm$^{-3}$) implies that this planet has a significant envelope of water or other volatiles around a r…
We present the confirmation of a small, moderately-irradiated (F = 155 +/- 7 Fearth) Neptune with a substantial gas envelope in a P=11.8728787+/-0.0000085-day orbit about a quiet, Sun-like G0V star Kepler-1655. Based on our analysis of the Kepler light curve, we determined Kepler-1655b's radius to be 2.213+/-0.082 Rearth. We acquired 95 high-resolution spectra with TNG/HARPS-N, enabling us to characterize the host star and determine an accurate mass for Kepler-1655b of 5.0+3.1/-2.8 Mearth via Gaussian-process regression. Our mass determination excludes an Earth-like composition with 98\% confi…
Hot and cloudy: High temperature clouds in super-Earths and sub-Neptunes
Leiden Observatory（莱顿天文台）；SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research（荷兰空间研究所）；Tsinghua University（清华大学）；Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院喷气推进实验室）
Diversity of low-mass planet atmospheres in the C-H-O-N-S-Cl system with interior dissolution, nonideality, and condensation: Application to TRAPPIST-1e and sub-Neptunes
Short-period sub-Neptunes with substantial volatile envelopes are among the most common type of known exoplanets. However, recent studies of the Kepler population have suggested a dearth of sub-Neptunes on highly irradiated orbits, where they are vulnerable to atmospheric photoevaporation. Physically, we expect this "photoevaporation desert" to depend on the total lifetime X-ray and extreme ultraviolet flux, the main drivers of atmospheric escape. In this work, we study the demographics of sub-Neptunes as a function of lifetime exposure to high energy radiation and host star mass. We find that…
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission was designed to find transiting planets around bright, nearby stars. Here we present the detection and mass measurement of a small, short-period ($\approx\,4$\,days) transiting planet around the bright ($V=7.9$), solar-type star HD 86226 (TOI-652, TIC 22221375), previously known to host a long-period ($\sim$1600 days) giant planet. HD 86226c (TOI-652.01) has a radius of $2.16\pm0.08$ $R_{\oplus}$ and a mass of 7.25$^{+1.19}_{-1.12}$ $M_{\oplus}$ based on archival and new radial velocity data. We also update the parameters of the longer-period, …
We report the discovery of HD 110113 b (TOI-755.01), a transiting mini-Neptune exoplanet on a 2.5-day orbit around the solar-analogue HD 110113 (Teff = 5730K). Using TESS photometry and HARPS radial velocities gathered by the NCORES program, we find HD 110113 b has a radius of $2.05\pm0.12$ $R_\oplus$ and a mass of $4.55\pm0.62$ $M_\oplus$. The resulting density of $2.90^{+0.75}_{-0.59}$ g cm^{-3} is significantly lower than would be expected from a pure-rock world; therefore, HD 110113 b must be a mini-Neptune with a significant volatile atmosphere. The high incident flux places it within the…
TOI-1695 is a V-mag=13 M-dwarf star from the northern hemisphere at 45$\,$pc from the Sun, around which a 3.134-day periodic transit signal from a super-Earth candidate was identified in TESS photometry. With a transit depth of 1.3$\,$mmag, the radius of candidate TOI-1695.01 was estimated by the TESS pipeline to be 1.82$\,$R$_\oplus$ with an equilibrium temperature of $\sim 620\,$K. We successfully detect a reflex motion of the star and establish it is due to a planetary companion at an orbital period consistent with the photometric transit period thanks to a year-long radial-velocity monitor…
Super-Earths and sub-Neptunes have been found simultaneously in multiplanetary systems, suggesting that they are appropriate to study composition and formation within the same environment. We perform a homogeneous interior structure analysis of five multiplanetary systems to explore the compositional trends and its relation with planet formation. For K2-138, we present revised masses and stellar host chemical abundances to improve the constraints on the planetary interior. We conduct a line-by-line differential spectroscopic analysis on the stellar spectra to obtain its chemical abundances and…
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (\textit{TESS}) mission was designed to perform an all-sky search of planets around bright and nearby stars. Here we report the discovery of two sub-Neptunes orbiting around the TOI 1062 (TIC 299799658), a V=10.25 G9V star observed in the TESS Sectors 1, 13, 27 & 28. We use precise radial velocity observations from HARPS to confirm and characterize these two planets. TOI 1062b has a radius of 2.265^{+0.095}_{-0.091} Re, a mass of 11.8 +\- 1.4 Me, and an orbital period of 4.115050 +/- 0.000007 days. The second planet is not transiting, has a minimum mas…
Sibling Sub-Neptunes Around Sibling M Dwarfs: TOI-521 and TOI-912
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC)（加那利群岛天体物理研究所）；Universidad de La Laguna (ULL)（拉古纳大学）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC)（安达卢西亚天体物理研究所）；Hitotsubashi University（一桥大学）；Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC)（加泰罗尼亚空间研究所）；Institut de Ciències de l’Espai (ICE, CSIC)（空间科学研究所）；Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA)（天体生物学中心）；Univ. Grenoble Alpes（格勒诺布尔阿尔卑斯大学）；Institute of Astronomy, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicu（尼古拉·哥白尼大学天文系，物理、天文与信息学院）
K2-18 b is a transiting mini-Neptune that orbits a nearby (38 pc) cool M3 dwarf and is located inside its region of temperate irradiation. We report on the search for hydrogen escape from the atmosphere K2-18 b using Lyman-$α$ transit spectroscopy with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) instrument installed on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We analyzed the time-series of the fluxes of the stellar Lyman-$α$ emission of K2-18 in both its blue- and redshifted wings. We found that the average blueshifted emission of K2-18 decreases by $67\% \pm 18\%$ during the transit of the plane…
Constraining the lives and times of exoplanets through evolutionary Bayesian retrievals
Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge（剑桥大学天文学研究所）；Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen（格罗宁根大学卡普坦天文研究所）；Helmholtz AI, Technical University of Munich（慕尼黑工业大学赫尔姆霍兹人工智能）；University of Technology Nuremberg（纽伦堡技术大学）
