Cloudy and Cloud-free Thermal Phase Curves with PICASO: Applications to WASP-43b

Abstract

We present new functionality within PICASO, a state-of-the-art radiative transfer model for exoplanet and brown dwarf atmospheres, by developing a new pipeline that computes phase-resolved thermal emission (thermal phase curves) from three-dimensional (3D) models. Because PICASO is coupled to Virga, an open-source cloud code, we are able to produce cloudy phase curves with different sedimentation efficiencies ($f_{sed}$) and cloud condensate species. We present the first application of this new algorithm to hot Jupiter WASP-43b. Previous studies of the thermal emission of WASP-43b from Kataria et al. found good agreement between cloud-free models and dayside thermal emission, but an overestimation of the nightside flux, for which clouds have been suggested as a possible explanation. We use the temperature and vertical wind structure from the cloud-free 3D general circulation models of Kataria et al. and post-process it using PICASO, assuming that clouds form and affect the spectra. We compare our models to results from Kataria et al., including Hubble Space Telescope Wide-Field Camera 3 (WFC3) observations of WASP-43b from Stevenson et al. In addition, we compute phase curves for Spitzer at 3.6 and 4.5 $\mu m$ and compare them to observations from Stevenson et al. We are able to closely recover the cloud-free results, even though PICASO utilizes a coarse spatial grid. We find that cloudy phase curves provide much better agreement with the WFC3 and Spitzer nightside data, while still closely matching the dayside emission. This work provides the community with a convenient, user-friendly tool to interpret phase-resolved observations of exoplanet atmospheres using 3D models.

Published ApJ; GitHub: https://github.com/natashabatalha/picaso/blob/master/picaso/ Docs and Tutorials: https://natashabatalha.github.io/picaso/tutorials.html#moving-to-3-dimensions

References in corpus (39)

• The NumPy array: a structure for efficient numerical computation
• The Evolution of L and T Dwarfs in Color-Magnitude Diagrams
• Thermal structure of an exoplanet atmosphere from phase-resolved emission spectroscopy
• Can TiO Explain Thermal Inversions in the Upper Atmospheres of Irradiated Giant Planets?
• Inverting Phase Functions to Map Exoplanets
• Water Clouds in Y Dwarfs and Exoplanets
• Exoplanet Reflected Light Spectroscopy with PICASO
• Atmospheric Dynamics of Hot Exoplanets
• Spitzer Phase Curve Constraints for WASP-43b at 3.6 and 4.5 microns
• The Atmospheric Circulation of the Hot Jupiter WASP-43b: Comparing Three-Dimensional Models to Spectrophotometric Data
• The 4.5 $\mu$m full-orbit phase curve of the hot Jupiter HD 209458b
• Atmospheric Circulation of Eccentric Hot Neptune GJ436b
• Climate of an Ultra hot Jupiter: Spectroscopic phase curve of WASP-18b with HST/WFC3
• The UK Met Office GCM with a sophisticated radiation scheme applied to the hot Jupiter HD 209458b
• Transit Signatures of Inhomogeneous Clouds on Hot Jupiters: Insights From Microphysical Cloud Modeling
• Atmospheric Regimes and Trends on Exoplanets and Brown Dwarfs
• Effects of Bulk Composition on The Atmospheric Dynamics on Close-in Exoplanets
• Linking the Climate and Thermal Phase Curve of 55 Cancri e
• The atmospheric circulation of the super Earth GJ 1214b: Dependence on composition and metallicity
• THOR: A New and Flexible Global Circulation Model to Explore Planetary Atmospheres
• Simulating gas giant exoplanet atmospheres with Exo-FMS: Comparing semi-grey, picket fence and correlated-k radiative-transfer schemes
• Modeling the effects of inhomogeneous aerosols on the hot Jupiter Kepler-7b's atmospheric circulation
• Atmospheric Circulation of Eccentric Hot Jupiter HAT-P-2b
• Overcast on Osiris: 3D radiative-hydrodynamical simulations of a cloudy hot Jupiter using the parameterised, phase-equilibrium cloud formation code EddySed
• A New Sedimentation Model for Greater Cloud Diversity in Giant Exoplanets and Brown Dwarfs
• Mineral cloud and hydrocarbon haze particles in the atmosphere of the hot Jupiter JWST target WASP-43b
• Introducing a New Spitzer Master BLISS Map to Remove the Instrument-Systematic -- Phase-Curve-Parameter Degeneracy, as Demonstrated by a Reanalysis of the 4.5$\mu m$ WASP-43b Phase Curve
• The Impact of Mixing Treatments on Cloud Modelling in 3D Simulations of Hot Jupiters
• Wavelength Does Not Equal Pressure: Vertical Contribution Functions and their Implications for Mapping Hot Jupiters
• An exploration of model degeneracies with a unified phase curve retrieval analysis: The light and dark sides of WASP-43 b
• Water Ice Cloud Variability & Multi-Epoch Transmission Spectra of TRAPPIST-1e
• Spatially Resolved Modeling of Optical Albedos for a Sample of Six Hot Jupiters
• TauREx3 PhaseCurve: A 1.5D model for phase curve description
• A survey of exoplanet phase curves with Ariel
• The Dark World: A Tale of WASP-43b in Reflected Light with HST WFC3/UVIS
• A Global Non-Hydrostatic Atmospheric Model with a Mass and Energy Conserving Vertically-Implicit-Correction (VIC) Scheme
• Simulating Reflected Light Exoplanet Spectra of the Promising Direct Imaging Target, $\upsilon$ Andromedae d, with a New, Fast Sampling Method Using the Planetary Spectrum Generator
• Impacts of Water Latent Heat on the Thermal Structure of Ultra-Cool Objects: Brown Dwarfs and Free-Floating Planets
• The curse of clouds

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Clouds form on the hot Saturn JWST ERO target WASP-96b
• YunMa: Enabling Spectral Retrievals of Exoplanetary Clouds
• Patchy nightside clouds on ultra-hot Jupiters: General Circulation Model simulations with radiatively active cloud tracers