2017MNRAS.471.4355P -
Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 471, 4355-4373 (2017/November-2)
On signatures of clouds in exoplanetary transit spectra.
PINHAS A. and MADHUSUDHAN N.
Abstract (from CDS):
Transmission spectra of exoplanetary atmospheres have been used to infer the presence of clouds/hazes. Such inferences are typically based on spectral slopes in the optical deviant from gaseous Rayleigh scattering or low-amplitude spectral features in the infrared. We investigate three observable metrics that could allow constraints on cloud properties from transmission spectra, namely the optical slope, the uniformity of this slope and condensate features in the infrared. We derive these metrics using model transmission spectra considering Mie extinction from a wide range of condensate species, particle sizes and scaleheights. First, we investigate possible degeneracies among the cloud properties for an observed slope. We find, for example, that spectra with very steep optical slopes suggest sulphide clouds (e.g. MnS, ZnS, Na2S) in the atmospheres. Secondly, (non)uniformities in optical slopes provide additional constraints on cloud properties, e.g. MnS, ZnS, TiO2 and Fe2O3 have significantly non-uniform slopes. Thirdly, infrared spectra provide an additional powerful probe into cloud properties, with SiO2, Fe2O3, Mg2SiO4 and MgSiO3 bearing strong infrared features observable with James Webb Space Telescope. We investigate observed spectra of eight hot Jupiters and discuss their implications. In particular, no single or composite condensate species considered here conforms to the steep and non-uniform optical slope observed for HD 189733b. Our work highlights the importance of the three above metrics to investigate cloud properties in exoplanetary atmospheres using high-precision transmission spectra and detailed cloud models. We make our Mie scattering data for condensates publicly available to the community.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2017 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society
Journal keyword(s):
radiative transfer - scattering - planets and satellites: atmospheres - planets and satellites: composition - planetary systems - planetary systems
CDS comments:
HD 95678b is a misprint for HD 97658b.
Simbad objects:
14
Full paper
View the references in ADS
To bookmark this query, right click on this link: simbad:2017MNRAS.471.4355P and select 'bookmark this link' or equivalent in the popup menu