Exoplanet atmospheres

Abstract:

A primary objective of exoplanet atmosphere characterization is to learn about planet formation and evolution, however, this is challenged by degeneracies. To determine whether differences in atmospheric composition can be reliably traced to differences in evolution, we are undertaking a transmission spectroscopy survey with JWST to compare the compositions of a sample of hot Jupiters that have different orbital alignments around F stars above the Kraft break. Under the assumption that aligned planets migrate through the inner disc, while misaligned planets migrate after disc dispersal, the act of migrating through the inner disc should cause a measurable difference in the C/O between aligned and misaligned planets. We expect the amplitude and sign of this difference to depend on the amount of planetesimal accretion and whether silicates accreted from the inner disc release their oxygen. Here, we identify all known exoplanets that are suitable for testing this hypothesis, describe our JWST survey, and use noise simulations and atmospheric retrievals to estimate our survey’s sensitivity. With the selected sample of four aligned and four misaligned hot Jupiters, we will be sensitive to the predicted differences in C/O between aligned and misaligned hot Jupiters for a wide range of model scenarios.

Abstract:

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS) is known to exhibit oscillations in its westward drift with a 90-day period. The GRS was observed with the Hubble Space Telescope on eight dates over a single oscillation cycle in 2023 December to 2024 March to search for correlations in its physical characteristics over that time. Measured longitudinal positions are consistent with a 90-day oscillation in drift, but no corresponding oscillation is found in latitude. We find that the GRS size and shape also oscillate with a 90-day period, having a larger width and aspect ratio when it is at its slowest absolute drift (minimum date-to-date longitude change). The GRS’s UV and methane gas absorption-band brightness variations over this cycle were small, but the core exhibited a small increase in UV brightness in phase with the width oscillation; it is brightest when the GRS is largest. The high-velocity red collar also exhibited color changes, but out of phase with the other oscillations. Maximum interior velocities over the cycle were about 20 m s−1 larger than minimum velocities, slightly larger than the mean uncertainty of 13 m s−1, but velocity variability did not follow a simple sinusoidal pattern as did other parameters such as longitude width or drift. Relative vorticity values were compared with aspect ratios and show that the GRS does not currently follow the Kida relation.

Abstract:

With sizable volatile envelopes but smaller radii than the solar system ice giants, sub-Neptunes have been revealed as one of the most common types of planet in the galaxy. While the spectroscopic characterization of larger sub-Neptunes (2.5–4 R ⊕) has revealed hydrogen-dominated atmospheres, smaller sub-Neptunes (1.6–2.5 R ⊕) could either host thin, rapidly evaporating, hydrogen-rich atmospheres or be stable, metal-rich “water worlds” with high mean molecular weight atmospheres and a fundamentally different formation and evolutionary history. Here, we present the 0.6–2.8 μm JWST/NIRISS/SOSS transmission spectrum of GJ 9827 d, the smallest (1.98 R ⊕) warm (T eq,A=0.3 ∼ 620 K) sub-Neptune where atmospheric absorbers have been detected to date. Our two transit observations with NIRISS/SOSS, combined with the existing HST/WFC3 spectrum, enable us to break the clouds–metallicity degeneracy. We detect water in a highly metal-enriched “steam world” atmosphere (O/H of ∼4 by mass and H2O found to be the background gas with a volume mixing ratio of >31%). We further show that these results are robust to stellar contamination through the transit light source effect. We do not detect escaping metastable He, which, combined with previous nondetections of escaping He and H, supports the steam atmosphere scenario. In water-rich atmospheres, hydrogen loss driven by water photolysis happens predominantly in the ionized form, which eludes observational constraints. We also detect several flares in the NIRISS/SOSS light curves with far-UV energies of the order of 1030 erg, highlighting the active nature of the star. Further atmospheric characterization of GJ 9827 d probing carbon or sulfur species could reveal the origin of its high metal enrichment.