Exoplanetology: Exoplanets & Exomoons

Transmission Spectral Properties of Clouds for Hot Jupiter Exoplanets

By Keith Cowing
astro-ph.EP
September 29, 2014
Filed under
Transmission Spectral Properties of Clouds for Hot Jupiter Exoplanets

Clouds have an important role in the atmospheres of planetary bodies. It is expected that, like all the planetary bodies in our solar system, exoplanet atmospheres will also have substantial cloud coverage, and evidence is mounting for clouds in a number of hot Jupiters.

In order to better characterise planetary atmospheres we need to consider the effects these clouds will have on the observed broadband transmission spectra. Here we examine the expected cloud condensate species for hot Jupiter exoplanets and the effects of various grain sizes and distributions on the resultant transmission spectra from the optical to infrared, which can be used as a broad framework when interpreting exoplanet spectra. We note that significant infrared absorption features appear in the computed transmission spectrum, the result of vibrational modes between the key species in each condensate, which can potentially be very constraining.

While it may be hard to differentiate between individual condensates in the broad transmission spectra, it may be possible to discern different vibrational bonds, which can distinguish between cloud formation scenarios such as condensate clouds or photochemically generated species. Vibrational mode features are shown to be prominent when the clouds are composed of small sub-micron sized particles and can be associated with an accompanying optical scattering slope. These infrared features have potential implications for future exoplanetary atmosphere studies conducted with JWST, where such vibrational modes distinguishing condensate species can be probed at longer wavelengths.

Hannah R Wakeford, David K Sing (Submitted on 26 Sep 2014)

Comments: 13 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in A&A

Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)

Cite as: arXiv:1409.7594 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:1409.7594v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)

Submission history From: Hannah R Wakeford [v1] Fri, 26 Sep 2014 14:44:57 GMT (3499kb,D) http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.7594

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻