A library of self-consistent simulated exoplanet atmospheres
Abstract
We present a publicly available library of model atmospheres with radiative-convective equilibrium pressure-temperature (P-T) profiles fully consistent with equilibrium chemical abundances, and the corresponding emission and transmission spectrum with R ∼ 5000 at 0.2 µm decreasing to R ∼ 35 at 30 µm, for 89 hot Jupiter exoplanets, for four recirculation factors, six metallicities, and six C/O ratios. We find the choice of condensation process (local/rainout) alters the P-T profile and thereby the spectrum substantially, potentially detectable by James Webb Space Telescope. We find H- opacity can contribute to form a strong temperature inversion in ultrahot Jupiters for C/O ratios ≥ 1 and can make transmission spectra features flat in the optical, alongside altering the entire emission spectra. We highlight how adopting different model choices such as thermal ionization, opacities, line-wing profiles and the methodology of varying the C/O ratio, effects the P-T structure, and the spectrum. We show the role of Fe opacity to form primary/secondary inversion in the atmosphere. We use WASP-17b and WASP-121b as test cases to demonstrate the effect of grid parameters across their full range, while highlighting some important findings, concerning the overall atmospheric structure, chemical transition regimes, and their observables. Finally, we apply this library to the current transmission and emission spectra observations of WASP-121b, which shows H2O and tentative evidence for VO at the limb, and H2O emission feature indicative of inversion on the dayside, with very low energy redistribution, thereby demonstrating the applicability of library for planning and interpreting observations of transmission and emission spectrum.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- November 2020
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/staa2300
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2008.01856
- Bibcode:
- 2020MNRAS.498.4680G
- Keywords:
-
- techniques: spectroscopic;
- planets and satellites: atmospheres;
- planets and satellites: composition;
- planets and satellites: gaseous planets;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics;
- Physics - Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
- E-Print:
- 26 pages, 19 figures in the main paper. 13 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables in the supplementary material attached with the main paper here. Accepted for Publication in MNRAS. Full grid of model P-T profiles, chemical abundances, transmission and emission spectra, contribution functions are available here, https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zCCe6HICuK2nLgnYJFal7W4lyunjU4JE