Spectral Eclipse Timing

Abstract

We utilize multi-dimensional simulations of varying equatorial jet strength to predict wavelength dependent variations in the eclipse times of gas-giant planets. A displaced hot-spot introduces an asymmetry in the secondary eclipse light curve that manifests itself as a measured offset in the timing of the center of eclipse. A multi-wavelength observation of secondary eclipse, one probing the timing of barycentric eclipse at short wavelengths and another probing at longer wavelengths, will reveal the longitudinal displacement of the hot-spot and break the degeneracy between this effect and that associated with the asymmetry due to an eccentric orbit. The effect of time offsets was first explored in the IRAC wavebands by Williams et. al (2006). Here we improve upon their methodology, extend to a broad ranges of wavelengths, and demonstrate our technique on a series of multi-dimensional radiative-hydrodynamical simulations of HD 209458b with varying equatorial jet strength and hot-spot displacement. Simulations with the largest hot-spot displacement result in timing offsets of up to 100 seconds in the infrared. Though we utilize a particular radiative hydrodynamical model to demonstrate this effect, the technique is model independent. This technique should allow a much larger survey of hot-spot displacements with JWST then currently accessible with time-intensive phase curves, hopefully shedding light on the physical mechanisms associated with thermal energy advection in irradiated gas-giants.

Accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (17)

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• A More Informative Map: Inverting Thermal Orbital Phase and Eclipse Lightcurves of Exoplanets
• Characterization of Exoplanets: Secondary Eclipses
• Mapping Exoplanets
• JWST-TST DREAMS: Non-Uniform Dayside Emission for WASP-17b from MIRI/LRS
• Warm Jupiters Beyond the Tidal Synchronization Limit May Exhibit a Wide Range of Secondary Eclipse Depths
• The Emission Spectrum of the Hot Jupiter WASP-79b from HST/WFC3