Searching for NLTE effects in the high-resolution transmission spectrum of WASP-121 b with Cloudy for Exoplanets

Abstract

Ultra-hot Jupiters (UHJs) undergo intense irradiation by their host stars and are expected to experience non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) effects in their atmospheres. Such effects are computationally intensive to model but, at the low pressures probed by high-resolution cross-correlation spectroscopy (HRCCS), can significantly impact the formation of spectral lines. The UHJ WASP-121 b exhibits a highly inflated atmosphere, making it ideal for investigating the impact of NLTE effects on its transmission spectrum. Here, we formally introduce Cloudy for Exoplanets, a Cloudy-based modelling code, and use it to generate 1-D LTE and NLTE atmospheric models and spectra to analyse archival HARPS WASP-121 b transmission spectra. We assessed the models using two HRCCS methods: i) Pearson cross-correlation, and ii) a method that aims to match the average observed line depth for given atmospheric species. All models result in strong detections of Fe I ($7.5<S/N<10.5$). However, the highest S/N model (LTE) does not agree with the best-matching model of the average line depth (NLTE). We also find degeneracy, such that increasing the isothermal temperature and metallicity of the LTE models can produce average line depths similar to cooler, less metal rich NLTE models. Thus, we are unable to conclusively remark on the presence of NLTE effects in the atmosphere of WASP-121 b. We instead highlight the need for standardised metrics in HRCCS that enable robust statistical assessment of complex physical models, e.g. NLTE or 3-D effects, that are currently too computationally intensive to include in HRCCS atmospheric retrievals.

23 pages, 19 Figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

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