Exoplanets and Stellar Physics

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The First Habitable-zone Earth-sized Planet from TESS. I. Validation of the TOI-700 System

The Astronomical Journal American Astronomical Society 160:3 (2020) 116

Authors:

Emily A Gilbert, Thomas Barclay, Joshua E Schlieder, Elisa V Quintana, Benjamin J Hord, Veselin B Kostov, Eric D Lopez, Jason F Rowe, Kelsey Hoffman, Lucianne M Walkowicz, Michele L Silverstein, Joseph E Rodriguez, Andrew Vanderburg, Gabrielle Suissa, Vladimir S Airapetian, Matthew S Clement, Sean N Raymond, Andrew W Mann, Ethan Kruse, Jack J Lissauer, Knicole D Colón, Ravi kumar Kopparapu, Laura Kreidberg, Sebastian Zieba, Karen A Collins, Samuel N Quinn, Steve B Howell, Carl Ziegler, Eliot Halley Vrijmoet, Fred C Adams, Giada N Arney, Patricia T Boyd, Jonathan Brande, Christopher J Burke, Luca Cacciapuoti, Quadry Chance, Jessie L Christiansen, Giovanni Covone, Tansu Daylan, Danielle Dineen, Courtney D Dressing, Zahra Essack, Thomas J Fauchez, Brianna Galgano, Alex R Howe, Lisa Kaltenegger, Stephen R Kane, Christopher Lam, Eve J Lee, Nikole K Lewis, Sarah E Logsdon, Avi M Mandell, Teresa Monsue, Fergal Mullally, Susan E Mullally, Rishi R Paudel, Daria Pidhorodetska, Peter Plavchan, Naylynn Tañón Reyes, Stephen A Rinehart, Bárbara Rojas-Ayala, Jeffrey C Smith, Keivan G Stassun, Peter Tenenbaum, Laura D Vega, Geronimo L Villanueva, Eric T Wolf, Allison Youngblood, George R Ricker, Roland K Vanderspek, David W Latham, Sara Seager, Joshua N Winn, Jon M Jenkins, Gáspár Å Bakos, César Briceño, David R Ciardi, Ryan Cloutier, Dennis M Conti, Andrew Couperus, Mario Di Sora, Nora L Eisner, Mark E Everett, Tianjun Gan, Joel D Hartman, Todd Henry, Giovanni Isopi, Wei-Chun Jao, Eric LN Jensen, Nicholas Law, Franco Mallia, Rachel A Matson, Benjamin J Shappee, Mackennae Le Wood, Jennifer G Winters
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The Multiplanet System TOI-421: A Warm Neptune and a Super Puffy Mini-Neptune Transiting a G9 V Star in a Visual Binary* * Based on observations made with ESO Telescopes at the La Silla Observatory under programs ID 1102.C-0923, 0103.C-0874, 0103.C-0759, 0103.C-0442, and 60.A-970. Based on observations obtained with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), operated on the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM) of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. This work makes use of observations from the LCOGT network.

The Astronomical Journal American Astronomical Society 160:3 (2020) 114

Authors:

Ilaria Carleo, Davide Gandolfi, Oscar Barragán, John H Livingston, Carina M Persson, Kristine WF Lam, Aline Vidotto, Michael B Lund, Carolina Villarreal D’Angelo, Karen A Collins, Luca Fossati, Andrew W Howard, Daria Kubyshkina, Rafael Brahm, Antonija Oklopčić, Paul Mollière, Seth Redfield, Luisa Maria Serrano, Fei Dai, Malcolm Fridlund, Francesco Borsa, Judith Korth, Massimiliano Esposito, Matías R Díaz, Louise Dyregaard Nielsen, Coel Hellier, Savita Mathur, Hans J Deeg, Artie P Hatzes, Serena Benatti, Florian Rodler, Javier Alarcon, Lorenzo Spina, Ângela RG Santos, Iskra Georgieva, Rafael A García, Lucía González-Cuesta, George R Ricker, Roland Vanderspek, David W Latham, Sara Seager, Joshua N Winn, Jon M Jenkins, Simon Albrecht, Natalie M Batalha, Corey Beard, Patricia T Boyd, François Bouchy, Jennifer A Burt, R Paul Butler, Juan Cabrera, Ashley Chontos, David R Ciardi, William D Cochran, Kevin I Collins, Jeffrey D Crane, Ian Crossfield, Szilard Csizmadia, Diana Dragomir, Courtney Dressing, Philipp Eigmüller, Michael Endl, Anders Erikson, Nestor Espinoza, Michael Fausnaugh, Fabo Feng, Erin Flowers, Benjamin Fulton, Erica J Gonzales, Nolan Grieves, Sascha Grziwa, Eike W Guenther, Natalia M Guerrero, Thomas Henning, Diego Hidalgo, Teruyuki Hirano, Maria Hjorth, Daniel Huber, Howard Isaacson, Matias Jones, Andrés Jordán, Petr Kabáth, Stephen R Kane, Emil Knudstrup, Jack Lubin, Rafael Luque, Ismael Mireles, Norio Narita, David Nespral, Prajwal Niraula, Grzegorz Nowak, Enric Palle, Martin Pätzold, Erik A Petigura, Jorge Prieto-Arranz, Heike Rauer, Paul Robertson, Mark E Rose, Arpita Roy, Paula Sarkis, Joshua E Schlieder, Damien Ségransan, Stephen Shectman, Marek Skarka, Alexis MS Smith, Jeffrey C Smith, Keivan Stassun, Johanna Teske, Joseph D Twicken, Vincent Van Eylen, Sharon Wang, Lauren M Weiss, Aurélien Wyttenbach
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Mineral cloud and hydrocarbon haze particles in the atmosphere of the hot Jupiter JWST target WASP-43b

Astronomy & Astrophysics EDP Sciences 641 (2020) A178-A178

Authors:

Ch Helling, Y Kawashima, V Graham, D Samra, KL Chubb, M Min, LBFM Waters, V Parmentier

Abstract:

Context. Having a short orbital period and being tidally locked makes WASP-43b an ideal candidate for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) phase curve measurements. Phase curve observations of an entire orbit will enable the mapping of the atmospheric structure across the planet, with different wavelengths of observation allowing different atmospheric depths to be seen. Aims. We provide insight into the details of the clouds that may form on WASP-43b and their impact on the remaining gas phase, in order to prepare the forthcoming interpretation of the JWST and follow-up data. Methods. We follow a hierarchical modelling strategy. We utilise 3D GCM results as input for a kinetic, non-equilibrium model for mineral cloud particles and for a kinetic model to study a photochemically-driven hydrocarbon haze component. Results. Mineral condensation seeds form throughout the atmosphere of WASP-43b. This is in stark contrast to the ultra-hot Jupiters, such as WASP-18b and HAT-P-7b. The dayside is not cloud free but it is loaded with few yet large mineral cloud particles in addition to hydrocarbon haze particles of a comparable abundance. Photochemically driven hydrocarbon haze appears on the dayside, but it does not contribute to the cloud formation on the nightside. The geometrical cloud extension differs across the globe due to the changing thermodynamic conditions. Day and night differ by 6000 km in pressure scale height. As reported for other planets, the C/O is not constant throughout the atmosphere and varies between 0.74 and 0.3. The mean molecular weight is approximately constant in a H2-dominated WASP-43b atmosphere because of the moderate day/night-temperature differences compared to the super-hot Jupiters. Conclusions. WASP-43b is expected to be fully covered in clouds which are not homogeneously distributed throughout the atmosphere. The dayside and the terminator clouds are a combination of mineral particles of locally varying size and composition as well as of hydrocarbon hazes. The optical depth of hydrocarbon hazes is considerably lower than that of mineral cloud particles such that a wavelength-dependent radius measurement of WASP-43b would be determined by the mineral cloud particles but not by hazes.
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Non-local thermodynamic equilibrium transmission spectrum modelling of HD 209458b

Astronomy & Astrophysics EDP Sciences 641 (2020) A47-A47

Authors:

ME Young, L Fossati, TT Koskinen, M Salz, PE Cubillos, K France

Abstract:

Context. Exoplanetary upper atmospheres are low density environments where radiative processes can compete with collisional ones and introduce non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) effects into transmission spectra. Aims. We develop a NLTE radiative transfer framework capable of modelling exoplanetary transmission spectra over a wide range of planetary properties. Methods. We adapted the NLTE spectral synthesis code Cloudy to produce an atmospheric structure and atomic transmission spectrum in both NLTE and local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) for the hot Jupiter HD 209458b, given a published T–P profile and assuming solar metallicity. Selected spectral features, including Hα, NaI D, HeI λ10 830, FeI and II ultra-violet (UV) bands, and C, O, and Si UV lines, are compared with literature observations and models where available. The strength of NLTE effects are measured for individual spectral lines to identify which features are most strongly affected. Results. The developed modelling framework that computes NLTE synthetic spectra reproduces literature results for the HeI λ10 830 triplet, the NaI D lines, and the forest of FeI lines in the optical. Individual spectral lines in the NLTE spectrum exhibit up to 40% stronger absorption relative to the LTE spectrum.
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The Equatorial Jet Speed on Tidally Locked Planets. I. Terrestrial Planets

ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL 901:1 (2020) ARTN 78

Authors:

Mark Hammond, Shang-Min Tsai, Raymond T Pierrehumbert
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