Molecular formation along the atmospheric mass loss of HD 209458 b and similar Hot Jupiters
arXiv:1601.00821 · doi:10.1016/j.pss.2015.12.010
Abstract
The chemistry along the mass loss of Hot Jupiters is generally considered to be simple, consisting mainly of atoms, prevented from forming more complex species by the intense radiation field from their host stars. In order to probe the region where the temperature is low (T < 2000 K), we developed a 1D chemical and photochemical reaction model of the atmospheric mass loss of HD 209458 b, involving 56 species, including carbon chain and oxygen bearing ones, interacting through 566 reactions. The simulation results indicate that simple molecules like OH+, H2O+ and H3O+ are formed inside the region, considering that residual H2 survives in the exosphere, a possibility indicated by recent observational work. The molecules are formed and destroyed within a radial distance of less than 10^7 km, but the estimated integrated column density of OH+, a potential tracer of H2, is high enough to allow detection, which, once achieved, would indicate a revision of chemical models of the upper atmosphere of Hot Jupiters. For low density Hot Jupiters receiving less intense XUV radiation from their host stars than HD 209458 b, molecular species could conceivably be formed with a higher total column density.
accepted for publication in Planetary and Space Science
References in corpus (18)
- Atmospheric Escape from Hot Jupiters
- A Spectrum of an Extrasolar Planet
- Stellar Parameters and Metallicities of Stars Hosting Jovian and Neptunian Mass Planets: A Possible Dependence of Planetary Mass on Metallicity
- New Analysis Indicates No Thermal Inversion in the Atmosphere of HD 209458b
- TrES-4: A Transiting Hot Jupiter of Very Low Density
- On the Occurrence Rate of Hot Jupiters in Different Stellar Environments
- On the diversity of magnetic interactions in close-in star-planet systems
- Optical Albedo Theory of Strongly-Irradiated Giant Planets: The Case of HD 209458b
- C/O Ratios of Stars with Transiting Hot Jupiter Exoplanets
- Escaping Particle fluxes in the atmospheres of close-in exoplanets: I. model of hydrogen
- Evidence against a strong thermal inversion in HD 209458 b from high-dispersion spectroscopy
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon ionization as a tracer of gas flows through protoplanetary disk gaps
- Modeling magnesium escape from HD209458b atmosphere
- Electrodynamics on extrasolar giant planets
- New Insights on Jupiter's Deep Water Abundance from Disequilibrium Species
- Dissociation of the benzene molecule by UV and soft X-rays in circumstellar environment
- A Link Between the Semi-Major Axis of Extrasolar Gas Giant Planets and Stellar Metallicity
- Chemical Constraints on the Oxygen Abundances in Jupiter and Saturn