A theoretical look at the direct detection of giant planets outside the Solar System
arXiv:astro-ph/0501484 · doi:10.1038/nature03244
Abstract
Astronomy is at times a science of unexpected discovery. When it is, and if we are lucky, new intellectual territories emerge to challenge our views of the cosmos. The recent indirect detections using high-precision Doppler spectroscopy of now more than one hundred giant planets orbiting more than one hundred nearby stars is an example of such rare serendipity. What has been learned has shaken our preconceptions, for none of the planetary systems discovered to date is like our own. However, the key to unlocking a planet's chemical, structural, and evolutionary secrets is the direct detection of the planet's light. I review the embryonic theory of the spectra, atmospheres, and light curves of irradiated giant planets and put this theory into the context of the many proposed astronomical campaigns to image them.
pre-editorial, non-copyrighted version of Review Article just published in Nature. 5 figures, one in JPEG format
References in corpus (10)
- TrES-1: The Transiting Planet of a Bright K0V Star
- Detection of a NEPTUNE-mass planet in the Cancri system using the Hobby-Eberly Telescope
- Shock Compression of Deuterium and the Interiors of Jupiter and Saturn
- Two new "very hot Jupiters" among the OGLE transiting candidates
- The "missing link": a 4-day period transiting exoplanet around OGLE-TR-111
- Spectra and Diagnostics for the Direct Detection of Wide-Separation Extrasolar Giant Planets
- Effects of Helium Phase Separation on the Evolution of Extrasolar Giant Planets
- On the Surface Heating of Synchronously-Spinning Short-Period Jovian Planets
- Theoretical Radii of Transiting Giant Planets: The Case of OGLE-TR-56b
- The detectability of extrasolar planet surroundings - I. Reflected-light photometry of unresolved rings
Cited by in corpus (42)
- Detection of Thermal Emission from an Extrasolar Planet
- On the Luminosity of Young Jupiters
- Improving Stellar and Planetary Parameters of Transiting Planet Systems: The Case of TrES-2
- Strong Water Absorption in the Dayside Emission Spectrum of the Planet HD 189733b
- Theoretical Spectra and Light Curves of Close-in Extrasolar Giant Planets and Comparison with Data
- Theoretical Spectral Models of the Planet HD 209458b with a Thermal Inversion and Water Emission Bands
- A Spectrum of an Extrasolar Planet
- Hydrogen-Helium Mixtures in the Interiors of Giant Planets
- Model atmospheres for massive gas giants with thick clouds: Application to the HR 8799 planets and predictions for future detections
- Theory for the Secondary Eclipse Fluxes, Spectra, Atmospheres, and Light Curves of Transiting Extrasolar Giant Planets
- Exoplanet albedo spectra and colors as a function of planet phase, separation, and metallicity
- Double-blind test program for astrometric planet detection with Gaia
- Temporal Evolution of Coronagraphic Dynamic Range, and Constraints on Companions to Vega
- Spectra as Windows into Exoplanet Atmospheres
- High-Contrast Observations in Optical and Infrared Astronomy
- Astrometric Detection of Giant Planets Around Nearby M Dwarfs: The Gaia Potential
- Highlights in the Study of Exoplanet Atmospheres
- 3.6-7.9 um Photometry of L and T Dwarfs and the Prevalence of Vertical Mixing in their Atmospheres
- Magellan Adaptive Optics first-light observations of the exoplanet beta Pic b. II. 3-5 micron direct imaging with MagAO+Clio, and the empirical bolometric luminosity of a self-luminous giant planet
- Exoplanet Classification and Yield Estimates for Direct Imaging Missions
- Molecular astronomy of cool stars and sub-stellar objects
- Theoretical Interpretation of the Measurements of the Secondary Eclipses of TrES-1 and HD209458b
- Astrometric Methods and Instrumentation to Identify and Characterize Extrasolar Planets: A Review
- Resolving the hot dust around HD69830 and eta Corvi with MIDI and VISIR
- New Candidate Extreme T Subdwarfs from the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 Citizen Science Project
- Models of Neptune-Mass Exoplanets: Emergent Fluxes and Albedos
- Theoretical Study of Sodium and Potassium Resonance Lines Pressure Broadened by Helium Atoms
- High-performance 3D waveguide architecture for astronomical pupil-remapping interferometry
- A Massive Planet to the Young Disc Star HD 81040
- On the sensitivity of closure phases to faint companions in optical long baseline interferometry
- Spiders in Lyot Coronagraphs
- Properties of Dense Fluid Hydrogen and Helium in Giant Gas Planets
- Correlations in Hot Dense Helium
- The Future of Ultracool Dwarf Science with JWST
- The search for planetary mass companions to field brown dwarfs with HST/NICMOS
- Fainter and closer: finding planets by symmetry breaking
- Starry Messages: Searching for Signatures of Interstellar Archaeology
- Giant Planet Atmospheres and Spectra
- Methane present in an extrasolar planet atmosphere
- Performance of a novel PMMA polymer imaging bundle for field acquisition and wavefront sensing
- Gaia: The Astrometry Revolution
- On homogeneous statistical distributions exoplanets for their dynamic parameters