On the Effect of Stellar Activity on Low-resolution Transit Spectroscopy and the Use of High Resolution as Mitigation
arXiv:2205.09859 · doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ac5e38
Abstract
We present models designed to quantify the effects of stellar activity on exoplanet transit spectroscopy and atmospheric characterization at low (R = 100) and high (R = 100,000) spectral resolution. We study three model classes mirroring planetary system archetypes: a hot Jupiter around an early-K star (HD 189733 b); a mini-Neptune around an early-M dwarf (K2-18 b); and terrestrial planets around a late M dwarf (TRAPPIST-1). We map photospheres with temperatures and radial velocities (RV) and integrate specific intensity stellar models. We obtain transit spectra affected by stellar contamination, the Rossiter--McLaughlin effect (RME), and center-to-limb variations (CLV). We find that, at low resolution, for later-type stars, planetary water features become difficult to distinguish from contamination. Many distributions of unocculted active regions can induce planetary-like features of similar amplitudes in the case of a late M dwarf. Atmospheric characterization of planets around late-type stars will likely continue to suffer from degeneracy with stellar activity unless active regions' parameters can be constrained using additional information. For the early-K star, stellar contamination mostly manifests itself through a slope at optical wavelengths similar to Rayleigh scattering. In all cases, contamination induces offsets in measured planet radii. At high resolution, we show that we can determine the origin of O and CO detection signals and lift the degeneracy observed at low resolution, provided sufficient planet RV variation during transit and adequate correction for the RME and CLV when required. High-resolution spectroscopy may therefore help resolve issues arising from stellar contamination for favorable systems.
27 pages, 18 figures. Published in The Astronomical Journal
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