PICASO 4.0: Clouds and Photochemistry in Climate Models of Brown Dwarfs and Exoplanets

Abstract

We present a major update to the open-source atmospheric modeling package \texttt{PICASO}, designed for simulating the thermal structure and spectra of hydrogen-rich atmospheres of brown dwarfs and exoplanets. This release, \texttt{PICASO 4.0}, expands upon the existing radiative-convective equilibrium model framework by incorporating several new capabilities. Key additions include the integration of \texttt{Virga} for self-consistent cloud modeling, new flexible treatments for rainout and cold trapping of volatile species, and support for photochemistry. We also introduce a parameterized energy injection scheme to simulate additional external or internal heating processes. These features are motivated by lessons from recent JWST observations that reveal the prevalence of non-equilibrium chemistry and clouds. We benchmark the new functionalities against previously published results in the literature, including the Sonora Diamondback grid, energy injected atmospheres, patchy cloud models, and other photochemical models of WASP-39b. \texttt{PICASO} continues to be actively developed as an open-source package aimed at enabling reproducible, community-driven atmospheric modeling of all substellar objects.

arXiv commentPublished in ApJ. Code available here: https://github.com/natashabatalha/picaso along with documentation here: https://natashabatalha.github.io/picaso/

References in corpus (98)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• The NumPy array: a structure for efficient numerical computation
• Planetary Radii across Five Orders of Magnitude in Mass and Stellar Insolation: Application to Transits
• Precipitating Condensation Clouds in Substellar Atmospheres
• A Unified Theory for the Atmospheres of the Hot and Very Hot Jupiters: Two Classes of Irradiated Atmospheres
• The Evolution of L and T Dwarfs in Color-Magnitude Diagrams
• ExoMol molecular line lists XXX: a complete high-accuracy line list for water
• petitRADTRANS: a Python radiative transfer package for exoplanet characterization and retrieval
• Line and Mean Opacities for Ultracool Dwarfs and Extrasolar Planets
• Neglected Clouds in T and Y Dwarf Atmospheres
• ExoMol line lists IV: The rotation-vibration spectrum of methane up to 1500 K
• Gaseous Mean Opacities for Giant Planet and Ultracool Dwarf Atmospheres over a Range of Metallicities and Temperatures
• A variationally computed line list for hot NH3
• Atmospheric, Evolutionary, and Spectral Models of the Brown Dwarf Gliese 229 B
• Early Release Science of the exoplanet WASP-39b with JWST NIRSpec PRISM
• ExoMol line lists III: An improved hot rotation-vibration line list for HCN and HNC
• A new set of atmosphere and evolution models for cool T-Y brown dwarfs and giant exoplanets
• The Deuterium-Burning Mass Limit for Brown Dwarfs and Giant Planets
• Water Vapor and Clouds on the Habitable-Zone Sub-Neptune Exoplanet K2-18b
• Masses, Radii, and Cloud Properties of the HR 8799 Planets
• Comparative Planetary Atmospheres: Models of TrES-1 and HD209458b
• ExoMol Molecular linelists -- XXXIII. The spectrum of Titanium Oxide
• Early Release Science of the Exoplanet WASP-39b with JWST NIRSpec G395H
• Solar System Abundances of the Elements
• Fingering convection and cloudless models for cool brown dwarf atmospheres
• Photochemically-produced SO${}_2$ in the atmosphere of WASP-39b
• Thermal Emission and Albedo Spectra of Super Earths with Flat Transmission Spectra
• ExoMol molecular line lists XXXV: a rotation-vibration line list for hot ammonia
• Improved HCN/HNC linelist, model atmospheres and synthetic spectra for WZ Cas
• Model atmospheres of irradiated exoplanets: The influence of stellar parameters, metallicity, and the C/O ratio
• ExoMol molecular line lists - XVI: The rotation-vibration spectrum of hot H${}_2$S
• An accurate, extensive, and practical line list of methane for the HITEMP database
• ExoMol line lists XVIII. The high temperature spectrum of VO
• Methane, Carbon Monoxide, and Ammonia in Brown Dwarfs and Self-Luminous Giant Planets
• A Patchy Cloud Model for the L to T Dwarf Transition
• Observing transiting planets with JWST -- Prime targets and their synthetic spectral observations
• Line Intensities and Molecular Opacities of the FeH $F^4{\Delta }_i-X^4{\Delta }_i$ Transition
• ExoMol molecular line lists - XIV: The rotation-vibration spectrum of hot SO${}_2$
• Water Clouds in Y Dwarfs and Exoplanets
• HELIOS: An Open-source, GPU-accelerated Radiative Transfer Code For Self-consistent Exoplanetary Atmospheres
• Exoplanet Reflected Light Spectroscopy with PICASO
• ExoMol line lists VII: The rotation-vibration spectrum of phosphine up to 1500 K
• The JWST Early Release Science Program for Direct Observations of Exoplanetary Systems II: A 1 to 20 Micron Spectrum of the Planetary-Mass Companion VHS 1256-1257 b
• The ExoMolOP Database: Cross-sections and k-tables for Molecules of Interest in High-Temperature Exoplanet Atmospheres
• Forward and Inverse Modeling of the Emission and Transmission Spectrum of GJ 436b: Investigating Metal Enrichment, Tidal Heating, and Clouds
• ExoMol line lists II: The ro-vibrational spectrum of SiO
• New study of the line profiles of sodium perturbed by H2
• Directly Imaged L-T Transition Exoplanets in the Mid-Infrared
• ExoMol molecular line lists V: The ro-vibrational spectra of NaCl and KCl
• New CrH Opacities for the Study of L and Brown Dwarf Atmospheres
• New H2 collision-induced absorption and NH3 opacity and the spectra of the coolest brown dwarfs
• K-H_2 Quasi-molecular absorption detected in the T-dwarf epsilon Indi Ba
• Treatment of overlapping gaseous absorption with the correlated-k method in hot Jupiter and brown dwarf atmosphere models
• PICASO 3.0: A One-Dimensional Climate Model for Giant Planets and Brown Dwarfs
• Beyond Equilibrium Temperature: How the Atmosphere/Interior Connection Affects the Onset of Methane, Ammonia, and Clouds in Warm Transiting Giant Planets
• Vibrational transition moments of CH${}_4$ from first principles
• A High Internal Heat Flux and Large Core in a Warm Neptune Exoplanet
• The Sonora Substellar Atmosphere Models. IV. Elf Owl: Atmospheric Mixing and Chemical Disequilibrium with Varying Metallicity and C/O Ratios
• Phase Functions and Light Curves of Wide Separation Extrasolar Giant Planets
• Optical Albedo Theory of Strongly-Irradiated Giant Planets: The Case of HD 209458b
• Sulphur dioxide in the mid-infrared transmission spectrum of WASP-39b
• Observations of Disequilibrium CO Chemistry in the Coldest Brown Dwarfs
• A warm Neptune's methane reveals core mass and vigorous atmospheric mixing
• Spectral Variability from the Patchy Atmospheres of T and Y Dwarfs
• Radiative cooling functions for primordial molecules
• EXOPLINES: Molecular Absorption Cross-Section Database for Brown Dwarf and Giant Exoplanet Atmospheres
• The Sonora Substellar Atmosphere Models. II. Cholla: A Grid of Cloud-free, Solar Metallicity Models in Chemical Disequilibrium for the JWST Era
• Developing Atmospheric Retrieval Methods for Direct Imaging Spectroscopy of Gas Giants in Reflected Light I: Methane Abundances and Basic Cloud Properties
• An L Band Spectrum of the Coldest Brown Dwarf
• The First Spectrum of the Coldest Brown Dwarf
• A temperate super-Jupiter imaged with JWST in the mid-infrared
• Probing the Extent of Vertical Mixing in Brown Dwarf Atmospheres with Disequilibrium Chemistry
• ExoMol molecular line lists XX: a comprehensive line list for H${}_3^{+}$
• Self-consistent Models of Y Dwarf Atmospheres with Water Clouds and Disequilibrium Chemistry
• The First JWST Spectral Energy Distribution of a Y dwarf
• Quartz Clouds in the Dayside Atmosphere of the Quintessential Hot Jupiter HD 189733 b
• Chemical variation with altitude and longitude on exo-Neptunes: Predictions for Ariel phase-curve observations
• Indications of Water Clouds in the Coldest Known Brown Dwarf
• A New Sedimentation Model for Greater Cloud Diversity in Giant Exoplanets and Brown Dwarfs
• Uniform Forward-Modeling Analysis of Ultracool Dwarfs. II. Atmospheric Properties of 55 Late-T Dwarfs
• Methane Emission From a Cool Brown Dwarf
• Auto-Differentiable Spectrum Model for High-Dispersion Characterization of Exoplanets and Brown Dwarfs
• Spatially Resolved Modeling of Optical Albedos for a Sample of Six Hot Jupiters
• Silicate clouds and a circumplanetary disk in the YSES-1 exoplanet system
• The Sonora Substellar Atmosphere Models. V: A Correction to the Disequilibrium Abundance of CO${}_2$ for Sonora Elf Owl
• Microphysics of Water Clouds in the Atmospheres of Y Dwarfs and Temperate Giant Planets
• The JWST Weather Report: retrieving temperature variations, auroral heating, and static cloud coverage on SIMP-0136
• Observation of undepleted phosphine in the atmosphere of a low-temperature brown dwarf
• Large Uncertainties in the Thermodynamics of Phosphorus (III) Oxide (P${}_4$O${}_6$) Have Significant Implications for Phosphorus Species in Planetary Atmospheres
• Worlds Next Door: A Candidate Giant Planet Imaged in the Habitable Zone of $\alpha$ Cen A. I. Observations, Orbital and Physical Properties, and Exozodi Upper Limits
• The impact of spectral line wing cut-off: Recommended standard method with application to MAESTRO opacity database
• ExoMol line lists -- LX. Molecular line list for the ammonia isotopologue ${}^{15}$NH${}_3$
• Microphysical Prescriptions for Parameterized Water Cloud Formation on Ultra-cool Substellar Objects
• The Sonora Substellar Atmosphere Models VI. Red Diamondback: Extending Diamondback with SPHINX for Brown Dwarf Early Evolution
• The $\text{MSG}$ model for cloudy substellar atmospheres: A grid of self-consistent substellar atmosphere models with microphysical cloud formation
• Reflected-light Phase Curves with PICASO: A Kepler-7b Case Study
• Reliability of 1D radiative-convective photochemical-equilibrium retrievals on transit spectra of WASP-107b
• ExoJAX Retrievals of VLT/CRIRES Spectra of Luhman 16AB: C/O Ratios and Systematic Uncertainties

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Atmospheric Signatures of Common Envelope Evolution in White Dwarf Planets
• Impact of Clouds on the Atmosphere-Mantle Interface of Sub-Neptunes