Exoplanetary Atmospheres

Abstract

The study of exoplanetary atmospheres is one of the most exciting and dynamic frontiers in astronomy. Over the past two decades ongoing surveys have revealed an astonishing diversity in the planetary masses, radii, temperatures, orbital parameters, and host stellar properties of exoplanetary systems. We are now moving into an era where we can begin to address fundamental questions concerning the diversity of exoplanetary compositions, atmospheric and interior processes, and formation histories, just as have been pursued for solar system planets over the past century. Exoplanetary atmospheres provide a direct means to address these questions via their observable spectral signatures. In the last decade, and particularly in the last five years, tremendous progress has been made in detecting atmospheric signatures of exoplanets through photometric and spectroscopic methods using a variety of space-borne and/or ground-based observational facilities. These observations are beginning to provide important constraints on a wide gamut of atmospheric properties, including pressure-temperature profiles, chemical compositions, energy circulation, presence of clouds, and non-equilibrium processes. The latest studies are also beginning to connect the inferred chemical compositions to exoplanetary formation conditions. In the present chapter, we review the most recent developments in the area of exoplanetary atmospheres. Our review covers advances in both observations and theory of exoplanetary atmospheres, and spans a broad range of exoplanet types (gas giants, ice giants, and super-Earths) and detection methods (transiting planets, direct imaging, and radial velocity). We close with a discussion of the bright prospects for future studies of exoplanetary atmospheres.

Accepted for publication as a chapter in Protostars and Planets VI, University of Arizona Press (2014), eds. H. Beuther, R. Klessen, C. Dullemond, Th. Henning. Includes color figures

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• PLATON II: New Capabilities And A Comprehensive Retrieval on HD 189733b Transit and Eclipse Data
• Highlights in the Study of Exoplanet Atmospheres
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• New Avenues for Thermal Inversions in hot Jupiters
• Robustness Measures for Molecular Detections using High-Resolution Transmission Spectroscopy of Exoplanets
• Hubble PanCET: An isothermal day-side atmosphere for the bloated gas-giant HAT-P-32Ab
• The composition of hot Jupiter atmospheres assembled within chemically evolved protoplanetary discs
• CO or no CO? Narrowing the CO abundance constraint and recovering the H2O detection in the atmosphere of WASP-127 b using SPIRou
• Exoplanet Spectroscopy with JWST NIRISS: Diagnostics and Case Studies
• High-precision multi-wavelength eclipse photometry of the ultra-hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-103 b
• The Effect of Clouds as an Additional Opacity Source on the Inferred Metallicity of Giant Exoplanets
• VaTEST I: Validation of Sub-Saturn Exoplanet TOI-181b in Narrow Orbit from its Host Star
• Colour-colour and colour-magnitude diagrams for Hot Jupiters
• Climatological and UV-based Habitability of Possible Exomoons in F-star Systems
• Discovery and characterization of a dense sub-Saturn TOI-6651b
• Kinetic and photochemical disequilibrium in the potentially carbon-rich atmosphere of the warm-Jupiter WASP-69b