Planetary Climate Dynamics

Abstract:

The geochemical evolution of long-lived magma oceans is strongly regulated by the volatile exchange between the molten mantle and the atmosphere. For planets inside the runaway-greenhouse limit, this coupled evolution can persist for billions of years, governing bulk density, surface conditions, and long-term geodynamics. However, most existing studies assume Earth-like (oxidized) conditions and neglect the influence of the redox state on melt thermodynamics and volatile release. We quantified how experimentally derived, oxygen-fugacity-dependent melting curves implemented within the coupled interior-atmosphere framework PROTEUS propagate into the thermal structure, melt fraction, and rheological evolution of rocky exoplanet interiors, and applied this to the short-period super-Earth GJ 1132 b. We found strongly non-linear thermal responses to variations in melting curves. In volatile-poor systems, reduced melting curves ( f O 2 ≤ IW, where IW denotes the iron–wüstite buffer) promote earlier deep-mantle crystallization relative to oxidized (IW+2.0) and Earth-like (IW + 4.0) cases (range IW–4.0 to IW + 4.0), favouring late-stage surface magma oceans sustained by greenhouse warming, while oxidized melting curves maintain higher melt fractions and a vertically extended magma ocean. Reduced mantles produce massive H 2 –CO-rich atmospheres; oxidized mantles favour thinner H 2 O–CO 2 envelopes. In volatile-rich systems, the interior reaches radiative equilibrium at high melt fractions, sustaining a steady-state global magma ocean in which melting curve variations do not significantly influence solidification timing. This indicates a hierarchical control: volatile inventory and surface oxygen fugacity act as the primary regulators of thermal state, while oxygen-fugacity-dependent melting relations provide a secondary modulation. These contrasting regimes produce distinct atmospheric compositions and formation timescales, offering testable spectral predictions for close-in rocky exoplanets evaluable with forthcoming JWST observations.

Abstract:

ABSTRACT Static structure models, which map mass–radius constraints to bulk planet composition, are frequently used to categorize exoplanets due to their computational efficiency and the high-level insight they offer into planetary properties. However, static structure models typically have simplified atmospheric treatments, which may introduce systematic biases when interpreting the structures – and therefore the climates – of sub-Neptunes and super-Earths. We present a framework for recovering exoplanet properties using static structure models that accounts for necessary physical–chemical complexity in their atmospheres. We produce a comprehensive library of 504 000 exoplanet simulations that unify deep planetary interior structure with radiative-convective-chemical climate calculations. From these models, we demonstrate that a planet’s envelope mass fraction – a critical parameter to infer – is frequently degenerate with its instellation flux and atmospheric metallicity, and sensitive to the treatment of gravitational acceleration at the mbar level. Such uncertainties have significant implications for inferring planetary processes, as our modelling shows that habitable-zone sub-Neptunes readily host supercritical surfaces or deep magma oceans, despite their temperate irradiation regime. To marginalize over these uncertainties, we introduce a Bayesian retrieval tool that uses our library of self-consistent models. By applying this Bayesian approach to case-studies of $\pi$ Men  c and TOI-421 b, we show that robust physical interpretations are achievable through whole-planet mass–radius retrievals. While new data from James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Ariel, and PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) will expand our observational horizon, physically consistent modelling provides the means to transition from categorical interpretations toward a comprehensive picture of the exoplanet continuum.

Abstract:

Abstract We report the detection of photometric variability in the directly imaged super-Jupiter β  Pictoris b ( β Pic b). Using JWST NIRCam dual-band coronagraphic imaging, we conducted a 16 hr continuous photometric monitoring campaign in the F210M and F410M filters. We developed and validated a time-series photometry framework that combines point-spread function subtraction, principal component analysis for systematic noise removal, and injection-and-recovery tests to confirm signal fidelity. Both light curves show consistent sinusoidal variability at ∼5 σ and ≫5 σ significance in the F210M and F410M bands, respectively. A joint sinusoidal fit yields a rotation period of P rot  = 9.00 ± 0.13 hr and variability amplitudes of 0.85% ± 0.07% and 0.89% ± 0.04% in F210M and F410M, respectively. The near-identical amplitudes and periods in both bands confirm a common astrophysical origin in a heterogeneous atmosphere. Combining P rot with the previously measured projected rotational velocity, we constrain the line-of-sight spin axis inclination of β  Pic b. The result favors an equator-on viewing geometry, consistent with line-of-sight spin–orbit alignment: the planetary spin axis, orbital plane, debris disk, and stellar equator are all mutually aligned. This stands in sharp contrast to the large obliquities of wide-separation companions that are likely formed via gravitational fragmentation. Together with the system’s young age, this observation provides independent dynamical evidence that β  Pic b formed via core accretion. This result constitutes the first detection of rotational modulation in a close-in, high-contrast exoplanet that likely formed via core accretion, demonstrating that time-series coronagraphic imaging with JWST opens a powerful new window onto the rotation, atmospheric dynamics, and spin–orbit architecture of this population.