Exoplanet transits enable high-resolution spectroscopy across spatially resolved stellar surfaces

Exoplanet transits enable high-resolution spectroscopy across spatially resolved stellar surfaces

Authors:

Dravins et al

Abstract:

Observations of stellar surfaces - except for the Sun - are hampered by their tiny angular extent, while observed spectral lines are smeared by averaging over the stellar surface, and by stellar rotation. Exoplanet transits can be used to analyze stellar atmospheric structure, yielding high-resolution spectra across spatially highly resolved stellar surfaces, free from effects of spatial smearing and the rotational wavelength broadening present in full-disk spectra. During a transit, stellar surface portions successively become hidden, and differential spectroscopy between various transit phases provides spectra of those surface segments then hidden behind the planet. The small area subtended by even a large planet (about 1% of a main-sequence star) offers high spatial resolution but demands very precise observations. We demonstrate the reconstruction of photospheric FeI line profiles at a spectral resolution R=80,000 across the surface of the solar-type star HD209458. Any detailed understanding of stellar atmospheres requires modeling with 3-dimensional hydrodynamics. The properties predicted by such models are mapped onto the precise spectral-line shapes, asymmetries and wavelength shifts, and their variation from the center to the limb across any stellar disk. This method provides a tool for testing and verifying such models. The method will soon become applicable to more diverse types of stars, thanks to new spectrometers on very large telescopes, and since ongoing photometric searches are expected to discover additional bright host stars of transiting exoplanets.

Upper Limits on the Carbon-to-Oxygen Ratios of Eight Hot Jupiters' Atmospheres

Strict Upper Limits on the Carbon-to-Oxygen Ratios of Eight Hot Jupiters from Self-Consistent Atmospheric Retrieval

Author:

Benneke

Abstract:

The elemental compositions of hot Jupiters are informative relics of planet formation that can help us answer long-standing questions regarding the origin and formation of giant planets. Here, I present the main conclusions from a comprehensive atmospheric retrieval survey of eight hot Jupiters with detectable molecular absorption in their near-infrared transmission spectra. I analyze the eight transmission spectra using the newly-developed, self-consistent atmospheric retrieval framework, SCARLET. Unlike previous methods, SCARLET combines the physical and chemical consistency of complex atmospheric models with the statistical treatment of observational uncertainties known from atmospheric retrieval techniques. I find that all eight hot Jupiters consistently require carbon-to-oxygen ratios (C/O) below 0.9. The finding of C/O less than 0.9 is highly robust for HD209458b, WASP-12b, WASP-19b, HAT-P-1b, and XO-1b. For HD189733b, WASP-17b, and WASP-43b, I find that the published WFC3 transmission spectra favor C/O less than 0.9 at greater than 95% confidence. I further show that the water abundances on all eight hot Jupiters are consistent with solar composition. The relatively small depth of the detected water absorption features is due to the presence of clouds, not due to a low water abundance as previously suggested for HD209458b. The presence of a thick cloud deck is inferred for HD209458b and WASP-12b. HD189733b may host a similar cloud deck, rather than the previously suggested Rayleigh hazes, if star spots affect the observed spectrum. The approach taken in SCARLET can be regarded as a new pathway to interpreting spectral observations of planetary atmospheres. In this work, including our prior knowledge of H-C-N-O chemistry enables me to constrain the C/O ratio without detecting a single carbon-bearing molecule.