Chemical modeling of exoplanet atmospheres

Abstract

The past twenty years have revealed the diversity of planets that exist in the Universe. It turned out that most of exoplanets are different from the planets of our Solar System and thus, everything about them needs to be explored. Thanks to current observational technologies, we are able to determine some information about the atmospheric composition, the thermal structure and the dynamics of these exoplanets, but many questions remain still unanswered. To improve our knowledge about exoplanetary systems, more accurate observations are needed and that is why the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory (EChO) is an essential space mission. Thanks to its large spectral coverage and high spectral resolution, EChO will provide exoplanetary spectra with an unprecedented accuracy, allowing to improve our understanding of exoplanets. In this work, we review what has been done to date concerning the chemical modeling of exoplanet atmospheres and what are the main characteristics of warm exoplanet atmospheres, which are one of the main targets of EChO. Finally we will present the ongoing developments that are necessary for the chemical modeling of exoplanet atmospheres.

9 pages, 6 figures, accepted in Experimental Astronomy, Special Issue EChO

References in corpus (12)

• Atomic and Molecular Opacities for Brown Dwarf and Giant Planet Atmospheres
• Can TiO Explain Thermal Inversions in the Upper Atmospheres of Irradiated Giant Planets?
• Atmospheric Sulfur Photochemistry on Hot Jupiters
• Theoretical Spectra and Light Curves of Close-in Extrasolar Giant Planets and Comparison with Data
• Theoretical Spectral Models of the Planet HD 209458b with a Thermal Inversion and Water Emission Bands
• Synthetic Spectra and Colors of Young Giant Planet Atmospheres: Effects of Initial Conditions and Atmospheric Metallicity
• A chemical model for the atmosphere of hot Jupiters
• Dynamics and Disequilibrium Carbon Chemistry in Hot Jupiter Atmospheres, With Application to HD 209458b
• Inverting Phase Functions to Map Exoplanets
• Atmospheric Circulation of Eccentric Hot Neptune GJ436b
• Pseudo 2D chemical model of hot Jupiter atmospheres: application to HD 209458b and HD 189733b
• High-temperature measurements of VUV-absorption cross sections of CO2 and their application to exoplanets

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Exploring Biases of Atmospheric Retrievals in Simulated JWST Transmission Spectra of Hot Jupiters
• Evidence for a Dayside Thermal Inversion and High Metallicity for the Hot Jupiter WASP-18b
• Exoplanet Spectroscopy and Photometry with the Twinkle Space Telescope
• The Ariel Target List: The Impact of TESS and the Potential for Characterising Multiple Planets Within a System
• First Comparative Exoplanetology Within a Transiting Multi-planet System: Comparing the atmospheres of V1298 Tau b and c
• All along the line of sight: a closer look at opening angles and absorption regions in the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets