A survey of exoplanet phase curves with Ariel

Abstract

The ESA-Ariel mission will include a tier dedicated to exoplanet phase curves corresponding to ~10% of the science time. We present here the current observing strategy for studying exoplanet phase curves with Ariel. We define science questions, requirements and a list of potential targets. We also estimate the precision of phase curve reconstruction and atmospheric retrieval using simulated phase curves. Based on this work, we found that full-orbit phase variations for 35-40 exoplanets could be observed during the 3.5-yr mission. This statistical sample would provide key constraints on atmospheric dynamics, composition, thermal structure and clouds of warm exoplanets, complementary to the scientific yield from spectroscopic transits/eclipses measurements.

27 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy, Ariel Special Issue

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Cited by in corpus (9)

• FastChem 2: An improved computer program to determine the gas-phase chemical equilibrium composition for arbitrary element distributions
• Simulating gas giant exoplanet atmospheres with Exo-FMS: Comparing semi-grey, picket fence and correlated-k radiative-transfer schemes
• Observability of signatures of transport-induced chemistry in clear atmospheres of hot gas giant exoplanets
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• Revisiting fundamental properties of TiO${}_2$ nanoclusters as condensation seeds in astrophysical environments
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• Cloudy and Cloud-free Thermal Phase Curves with PICASO: Applications to WASP-43b