On spectroscopic phase-curve retrievals: H2 dissociation and thermal inversion in the atmosphere of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-103 b

Abstract

This work presents a re-analysis of the spectroscopic phase-curve observations of the ultra hot Jupiter WASP-103 b obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Spitzer Telescope. Traditional 1D and unified 1.5D spectral retrieval techniques are employed, allowing to map the thermal structure and the abundances of trace gases in this planet as a function of longitude. On the day-side, the atmosphere is found to have a strong thermal inversion, with indications of thermal dissociation traced by continuum H- opacity. Water vapor is found across the entire atmosphere but with depleted abundances of around 1e-5, consistent with the thermal dissociation of this molecule. Regarding metal oxide and hydrides, FeH is detected on the hot-spot and the day-side of WASP-103 b, but TiO and VO are not present in detectable quantities. Carbon-bearing species such as CO and CH4 are also found, but since their detection is reliant on the combination of HST and Spizer, the retrieved abundances should be interpreted with caution. Free and Equilibrium chemistry retrievals are overall consistent, allowing to recover robust constraints on the metallicity and C/O ratio for this planet. The analyzed phase-curve data indicates that the atmosphere of WASP-103 b is consistent with solar elemental ratios.

arXiv commentAccepted in AJ, 21 pages, 15 figures, 2 animations

References in corpus (121)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
• Binary companions of evolved stars in APOGEE DR14: Search method and catalog of ~5,000 companions
• MultiNest: an efficient and robust Bayesian inference tool for cosmology and particle physics
• Multimodal nested sampling: an efficient and robust alternative to MCMC methods for astronomical data analysis
• X-ray spectral modelling of the AGN obscuring region in the CDFS: Bayesian model selection and catalogue
• The California-Kepler Survey. III. A Gap in the Radius Distribution of Small Planets
• Detection of an Extrasolar Planet Atmosphere
• A continuum from clear to cloudy hot-Jupiter exoplanets without primordial water depletion
• Clouds in the atmosphere of the super-Earth exoplanet GJ 1214b
• The CoRoT satellite in flight : description and performance
• The Occurrence and Mass Distribution of Close-in Super-Earths, Neptunes, and Jupiters
• ExoMol molecular line lists XXX: a complete high-accuracy line list for water
• Origins of Hot Jupiters
• The ExoMol database: molecular line lists for exoplanet and other hot atmospheres
• Origins of Eccentric Extrasolar Planets: Testing the Planet-Planet Scattering Model
• ExoMol line lists IV: The rotation-vibration spectrum of methane up to 1500 K
• The imprint of exoplanet formation history on observable present-day spectra of hot Jupiters
• Characterizing transiting exoplanet atmospheres with JWST
• Terrestrial Planet Occurrence Rates for the Kepler GK Dwarf Sample
• Thermal structure of an exoplanet atmosphere from phase-resolved emission spectroscopy
• From thermal dissociation to condensation in the atmospheres of ultra hot Jupiters: WASP-121b in context
• A population study of gaseous exoplanets
• Water Vapor in the Spectrum of the Extrasolar Planet HD 189733b: 1. the Transit
• Nightside condensation of iron in an ultra-hot giant exoplanet
• A map of the large day-night temperature gradient of a super-Earth exoplanet
• Water Vapor and Clouds on the Habitable-Zone Sub-Neptune Exoplanet K2-18b
• Water, Methane, and Carbon Dioxide Present in the Dayside Spectrum of the Exoplanet HD 209458b
• Tau-REx I: A next generation retrieval code for exoplanetary atmospheres
• ExoMol Molecular linelists -- XXXIII. The spectrum of Titanium Oxide
• Water vapour in the atmosphere of the habitable-zone eight Earth-mass planet K2-18 b
• An ultrahot gas-giant exoplanet with a stratosphere
• Equilibrium chemistry down to 100 K - Impact of silicates and phyllosilicates on carbon/oxygen ratio
• Extremely Irradiated Hot Jupiters: Non-Oxide Inversions, H- Opacity, and Thermal Dissociation of Molecules
• Lyman-$\alpha$ Transit Spectroscopy and the Neutral Hydrogen Tail of the Hot Neptune GJ436b
• Atomic iron and titanium in the atmosphere of the exoplanet KELT-9b
• Absence of a thick atmosphere on the terrestrial exoplanet LHS 3844b
• Spectrally resolved helium absorption from the extended atmosphere of a warm Neptune-mass exoplanet
• Atmospheric reconnaissance of the habitable-zone Earth-sized planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1
• 3D climate modeling of close-in land planets: Circulation patterns, climate moist bistability and habitability
• A spectral survey of an ultra-hot Jupiter: Detection of metals in the transmission spectrum of KELT-9 b
• Mass-Metallicity Trends in Transiting Exoplanets from Atmospheric Abundances of H${}_2$O, Na, and K
• Ocean Planet or Thick Atmosphere: On the Mass-Radius Relationship for Solid Exoplanets with Massive Atmospheres
• ExoMol line lists XVIII. The high temperature spectrum of VO
• Detection of an atmosphere around the super-Earth 55 Cancri e
• ExoMol line lists -- XXXIX. Ro-vibrational molecular line list for CO${}_2$
• Planet formation and migration
• Global Climate and Atmospheric Composition of the Ultra-Hot Jupiter WASP-103b from HST and Spitzer Phase Curve Observations
• H${}_2$O abundances and cloud properties in ten hot giant exoplanets
• A combined transmission spectrum of the Earth-sized exoplanets TRAPPIST-1 b and c
• Bulk Composition of GJ 1214b and other sub-Neptune exoplanets
• Changing Face of the Extrasolar Giant Planet, HD 209458b
• Tracing the formation history of giant planets in protoplanetary disks with Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen and Sulphur
• Statistical properties of exoplanets. I. The period distribution: constraints for the migration scenario
• TauREx III: A fast, dynamic and extendable framework for retrievals
• Atmospheric Signatures of Giant Exoplanet Formation by Pebble Accretion
• Five carbon- and nitrogen-bearing species in a hot giant planet's atmosphere
• Spitzer Phase Curve Constraints for WASP-43b at 3.6 and 4.5 microns
• Molecular abundances and C/O ratios in chemically evolving planet-forming disk midplanes
• No Thermal Inversion and a Solar Water Abundance for the Hot Jupiter HD209458b from HST WFC3 Emission Spectroscopy
• The ExoMolOP Database: Cross-sections and k-tables for Molecules of Interest in High-Temperature Exoplanet Atmospheres
• Probing the terminator region atmosphere of the Hot-Jupiter XO-1b with transmission spectroscopy
• Friends of Hot Jupiters. IV. Stellar companions beyond 50 AU might facilitate giant planet formation, but most are unlikely to cause Kozai-Lidov migration
• Probing the extreme planetary atmosphere of WASP-12b
• The interior and atmosphere of the habitable-zone exoplanet K2-18b
• Hydrogen dimers in giant-planet infrared spectra
• Temperature-dependent molecular absorption cross sections for exoplanets and other atmospheres
• Atmospheric Dynamics of Hot Giant Planets and Brown Dwarfs
• Effects of a fully 3D atmospheric structure on exoplanet transmission spectra: retrieval biases due to day-night temperature gradients
• The Impact of Non-Uniform Thermal Structure on the Interpretation of Exoplanet Emission Spectra
• Why is it so Cold in Here?: Explaining the Cold Temperatures Retrieved from Transmission Spectra of Exoplanet Atmospheres
• Climate of an Ultra hot Jupiter: Spectroscopic phase curve of WASP-18b with HST/WFC3
• Methane in the atmosphere of the transiting hot Neptune GJ436b?
• ESPRESSO high resolution transmission spectroscopy of WASP-76b
• A New Window into Planet Formation and Migration: Refractory-to-Volatile Elemental Ratios in Ultra-hot Jupiters
• WASP-103b: a new planet at the edge of tidal disruption
• On the robustness of analysis techniques for molecular detections using high resolution exoplanet spectroscopy
• TESS full orbital phase curve of the WASP-18b system
• Water on Hot Rocky Exoplanets
• Understanding and Mitigating Biases when Studying Inhomogeneous Emission Spectra with JWST
• A Lucky Imaging search for stellar sources near 74 transit hosts
• Water vapor in the spectrum of the extrasolar planet HD 189733b: 2. The eclipse
• An emission spectrum for WASP-121b measured across the 0.8-1.1 micron wavelength range using the Hubble Space Telescope
• Strong biases in retrieved atmospheric composition caused by strong day-night chemical heterogeneities
• A He I upper atmosphere around the warm Neptune GJ 3470b
• 2.5-D retrieval of atmospheric properties from exoplanet phase curves: Application to WASP-43b observations
• Optical phase curve of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-121b
• The origin of the high metallicity of close-in giant exoplanets: Combined effect of the resonant and aerodynamic shepherding
• The mid-infrared spectrum of the transiting exoplanet HD 209458b
• ARES I: WASP-76 b, A Tale of Two HST Spectra
• ACCESS & LRG-BEASTS: a precise new optical transmission spectrum of the ultrahot Jupiter WASP-103b
• ARES II: Characterising the Hot Jupiters WASP-127 b, WASP-79 b and WASP-62 b with HST
• Hubble WFC3 Spectroscopy of the Habitable-zone Super-Earth LHS 1140 b
• Systematic Phase Curve Study of Known Transiting Systems from Year 1 of the TESS Mission
• Confirmation of water emission in the dayside spectrum of the ultrahot Jupiter WASP-121b
• THOR: A New and Flexible Global Circulation Model to Explore Planetary Atmospheres
• Visible-light Phase Curves from the Second Year of the TESS Primary Mission
• ARES V: No Evidence For Molecular Absorption in the HST WFC3 Spectrum of GJ 1132 b
• An optical transmission spectrum of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-33b. First indication of AlO in an exoplanet
• Pressure-dependent water absorption cross sections for exoplanets and other atmospheres
• TESS unveils the phase curve of WASP-33b. Characterization of the planetary atmosphere and the pulsations from the star
• On The Compatibility of Ground-based and Space-based Data: WASP-96 b, An Example
• Signs of strong Na and K absorption in the transmission spectrum of WASP-103b
• Constraining mornings & evenings on distant worlds: a new semi-analytical approach and prospects with transmission spectroscopy
• 2D Retrieval Frameworks for Hot Jupiter Phase Curves
• The Hubble WFC3 Emission Spectrum of the Extremely-Hot Jupiter, KELT-9b
• The hot Jupiter period-mass distribution as a signature of in situ formation
• ARES IV: Probing the atmospheres of the two warm small planets HD 106315 c and HD 3167 c with the HST/WFC3 camera
• KELT-11 b: Abundances of water and constraints on carbon-bearing molecules from the Hubble transmission spectrum
• Formation of aqua planets with water of nebular origin: Effects of water enrichment on the structure and mass of captured atmospheres of terrestrial planets
• H- and Dissociation in Ultra-hot Jupiters: A Retrieval Case Study of WASP-18b
• Ground-Based Transmission Spectroscopy with FORS2: A featureless optical transmission spectrum and detection of H${}_2$O for the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-103b
• Numerical Convergence of Hot-Jupiter Atmospheric Flow Solutions
• Impact of planetary mass uncertainties on exoplanet atmospheric retrievals
• Detection of the phase curve and occultation of WASP-100b with TESS
• TauREx3 PhaseCurve: A 1.5D model for phase curve description
• WASP-117 b: an eccentric hot-Saturn as a future complex chemistry laboratory
• The TESS Phase Curve of KELT-1b Suggests a High Dayside Albedo
• A new approach to spectroscopic phase curves: The emission spectrum of WASP-12b observed in quadrature with HST/WFC3
• Longitudinally Resolved Spectral Retrieval (ReSpect) of WASP-43b
• Thermal Phase Curves of XO-3b: an Eccentric Hot Jupiter at the Deuterium Burning Limit

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Five key exoplanet questions answered via the analysis of 25 hot Jupiter atmospheres in eclipse
• Is the atmosphere of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-121b variable?
• Spitzer thermal phase curve of WASP-121 b
• Repeated Cyclogenesis on Hot-Exoplanet Atmospheres with Deep Heating
• Thermal Emission from the hot Jupiter WASP-103b in J and Ks Bands
• Detecting molecules in Ariel low resolution transmission spectra
• Is binning always sinning? The impact of time-averaging for exoplanet phase curves
• Reconstructing Atmospheric Parameters of Exoplanets Using Deep Learning
• Patchy nightside clouds on ultra-hot Jupiters: General Circulation Model simulations with radiatively active cloud tracers