arXiv subjects

Emily Rauscher

Publications and source records attributed to Emily Rauscher.

90 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Detection of a Westward Hotspot Offset in the Atmosphere of a Hot Gas Giant CoRoT-2b

Short-period planets exhibit day-night temperature contrasts of hundreds to thousands of degrees K. They also exhibit eastward hotspot offsets whereby the hottest region on the planet is east of the substellar point; this has been widely interpreted as advection of heat due to eastward winds. We present thermal phase observations of the hot Jupiter CoRoT-2b obtained with the IRAC instrument on the Spitzer Space Telescope. These measurements show the most robust detection to date of a westward hotspot offset of 23 $\pm$ 4 degrees, in contrast with the nine other planets with equivalent measurements. The peculiar infrared flux map of CoRoT-2b may result from westward winds due to non-synchronous rotation magnetic effects, or partial cloud coverage, that obscures the emergent flux from the planet's eastern hemisphere. Non-synchronous rotation and magnetic effects may also explain the planet's anomalously large radius. On the other hand, partial cloud coverage could explain the featureless dayside emission spectrum of the planet. If CoRoT-2b is not tidally locked, then it means that our understanding of star-planet tidal interaction is incomplete. If the westward offset is due to magnetic effects, our result represents an opportunity to study an exoplanet's magnetic field. If it has Eastern clouds, then it means that our understanding of large-scale circulation on tidally locked planets is incomplete.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2017

Constraining Hot Jupiter Atmospheric Structure and Dynamics through Doppler Shifted Emission Spectra

We present a coupled 3-D atmospheric dynamics and radiative transfer model to predict the disk-integrated thermal emission spectra of transiting exoplanets in edge-on orbits. We calculate spectra at high resolution to examine the extent to which high-resolution emission spectra are influenced by 3-D atmospheric dynamics and planetary rotation, and to determine whether and how we can constrain thermal structures and atmospheric dynamics through high-resolution spectroscopy. This study represents the first time that the line-of-sight geometry and resulting Doppler shifts from winds and rotation have been treated self-consistently in an emission spectrum radiative transfer model, which allow us to assess the impact of the velocity field on thermal emission spectra. We apply our model to predict emission spectra as a function of orbital phase for three hot Jupiters, HD 209458b, WASP-43b and HD 189733b. We find net Doppler shifts in modeled spectra due to a combination of winds and rotation at a level of 1-3 km/s. These Doppler signatures vary in a quasi-sinusoidal pattern over the course of the planets' orbits as the hot spots approach and recede from the observer's viewpoint. We predict that WASP-43b produces the largest Doppler shift due to its fast rotation rate. We find that the net Doppler shift in an exoplanet's disk-integrated thermal emission spectrum results from a complex combination of winds, rotation, and thermal structure. However, we offer a simple method that estimates the magnitude of equatorial wind speeds in hot Jupiters through measurements of net Doppler shifts and lower resolution thermal phase curves.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2017

Modeling the effects of inhomogeneous aerosols on the hot Jupiter Kepler-7b's atmospheric circulation

Motivated by the observational evidence of inhomogeneous clouds in exoplanetary atmospheres, we investigate how proposed simple cloud distributions can affect atmospheric circulations and infrared emission. We simulated temperatures and winds for the hot Jupiter Kepler-7b using a three-dimensional atmospheric circulation model that included a simplified aerosol radiative transfer model. We prescribed fixed cloud distributions and scattering properties based on results previously inferred from Kepler-7b optical phase curves, including inhomogeneous aerosols centered along the western terminator and hypothetical cases in which aerosols additionally extended across much of the planet's night side. In all cases, a strong jet capable of advecting aerosols from a cooler nightside to dayside was found to persist, but only at the equator. Colder temperatures at mid- and polar-latitudes might permit aerosol to form on the dayside without the need for advection. By altering the deposition and redistribution of heat, aerosols along the western terminator produced an asymmetric heating that effectively shifts the hottest spot further east of the sub-stellar point than expected for a uniform distribution. The addition of opaque high clouds on the nightside can partly mitigate this enhanced shift by retaining heat that contributes to warming west of the hotspot. These expected differences in infrared phase curves could place constraints on proposed cloud distributions and their infrared opacities for brighter hot Jupiters.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2017

Models of Warm Jupiter Atmospheres: Observable Signatures of Obliquity

We present three-dimensional atmospheric circulation models of a hypothetical "warm Jupiter" planet, for a range of possible obliquities from 0-90 degrees. We model a Jupiter-mass planet on a 10-day orbit around a Sun-like star, since this hypothetical planet sits at the boundary between planets for which we expect that tidal forces should have aligned their rotation axes with their orbital axes (i.e., ones with zero obliquity) and planets whose timescale for tidal alignment is longer than the typical age of an exoplanet system. In line with observational progress, which is pushing atmospheric characterization to planets on longer orbital periods, we calculate the observable signatures of obliquity for a transiting warm Jupiter: in orbital phase curves of thermal emission and in the hemispheric flux gradients that could be measured by eclipse mapping. For both of these predicted measurements, the signal that we would see depends strongly on our viewing geometry relative to the orientation of the planet's rotation axis, and we thoroughly identify the degeneracies that result. We compare these signals to the predicted sensitivities of current and future instruments and determine that the James Webb Space Telescope should be able to constrain the obliquities of nearby warm Jupiters to be small (if less than or equal to 10 degrees) or to directly measure them if significantly non-zero (greater than or equal to 30 degrees), using the technique of eclipse mapping. For a bright target and assuming photon-limited precision, this could be done with a single secondary eclipse observation.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2011

A General Circulation Model for Gaseous Exoplanets with Double-Gray Radiative Transfer

We present a new version of our code for modeling the atmospheric circulation on gaseous exoplanets, now employing a "double-gray" radiative transfer scheme, which self-consistently solves for fluxes and heating throughout the atmosphere, including the emerging (observable) infrared flux. We separate the radiation into infrared and optical components, each with its own absorption coefficient, and solve standard two-stream radiative transfer equations. We use a constant optical absorption coefficient, while the infrared coefficient can scale as a powerlaw with pressure. Here we describe our new code in detail and demonstrate its utility by presenting a generic hot Jupiter model. We discuss issues related to modeling the deepest pressures of the atmosphere and describe our use of the diffusion approximation for radiative fluxes at high optical depths. In addition, we present new models using a simple form for magnetic drag on the atmosphere. We calculate emitted thermal phase curves and find that our drag-free model has the brightest region of the atmosphere offset by ~12 degrees from the substellar point and a minimum flux that is 17% of the maximum, while the model with the strongest magnetic drag has an offset of only ~2 degrees and a ratio of 13%. Finally, we calculate rates of numerical loss of kinetic energy at ~15% for every model except for our strong-drag model, where there is no measurable loss; we speculate that this is due to the much decreased wind speeds in that model.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2011

The Role of Drag in the Energetics of Strongly Forced Exoplanet Atmospheres

In contrast to the Earth, where frictional heating is typically negligible, we show that drag mechanisms could act as an important heat source in the strongly-forced atmospheres of some exoplanets, with the potential to alter the circulation. We modify the standard formalism of the atmospheric energy cycle to explicitly track the loss of kinetic energy and the associated frictional (re)heating, for application to exoplanets such as the asymmetrically heated "hot Jupiters" and gas giants on highly eccentric orbits. We establish that an understanding of the dominant drag mechanisms and their dependence on local atmospheric conditions is critical for accurate modeling, not just in their ability to limit wind speeds, but also because they could possibly change the energetics of the circulation enough to alter the nature of the flow. We discuss possible sources of drag and estimate the strength necessary to significantly influence the atmospheric energetics. As we show, the frictional heating depends on the magnitude of kinetic energy dissipation as well as its spatial variation, so that the more localized a drag mechanism is, the weaker it can be and still affect the circulation. We also use the derived formalism to estimate the rate of numerical loss of kinetic energy in a few previously published hot Jupiter models with and without magnetic drag and find it to be surprisingly large, at 5-10% of the incident stellar irradiation.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2011

Constraining High Speed Winds in Exoplanet Atmospheres Through Observations of Anomalous Doppler Shifts During Transit

Three-dimensional (3-D) dynamical models of hot Jupiter atmospheres predict very strong wind speeds. For tidally locked hot Jupiters, winds at high altitude in the planet's atmosphere advect heat from the day side to the cooler night side of the planet. Net wind speeds on the order of 1-10 km/s directed towards the night side of the planet are predicted at mbar pressures, which is the approximate pressure level probed by transmission spectroscopy. These winds should result in an observed blue shift of spectral lines in transmission on the order of the wind speed. Indeed, Snellen et al. (2010) recently observed a 2 +/- 1 km/s blue shift of CO transmission features for HD 209458b, which has been interpreted as a detection of the day-to-night winds that have been predicted by 3-D atmospheric dynamics modeling. Here we present the results of a coupled 3-D atmospheric dynamics and transmission spectrum model, which predicts the Doppler-shifted spectrum of a hot Jupiter during transit resulting from winds in the planet's atmosphere. We explore four different models for the hot Jupiter atmosphere using different prescriptions for atmospheric drag via interaction with planetary magnetic fields. We find that models with no magnetic drag produce net Doppler blue shifts in the transmission spectrum of ~2 km/s and that lower Doppler shifts of ~1 km/s are found for the higher drag cases, results consistent with -- but not yet strongly constrained by -- the Snellen et al. (2010) measurement. We additionally explore the possibility of recovering the average terminator wind speed as a function of altitude by measuring Doppler shifts of individual spectral lines and spatially resolving wind speeds across the leading and trailing terminators during ingress and egress.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2011

Possible thermochemical disequilibrium in the atmosphere of the exoplanet GJ 436b

The nearby extrasolar planet GJ 436b--which has been labelled as a 'hot Neptune'--reveals itself by the dimming of light as it crosses in front of and behind its parent star as seen from Earth. Respectively known as the primary transit and secondary eclipse, the former constrains the planet's radius and mass, and the latter constrains the planet's temperature and, with measurements at multiple wavelengths, its atmospheric composition. Previous work using transmission spectroscopy failed to detect the 1.4-μm water vapour band, leaving the planet's atmospheric composition poorly constrained. Here we report the detection of planetary thermal emission from the dayside of GJ 436b at multiple infrared wavelengths during the secondary eclipse. The best-fit compositional models contain a high CO abundance and a substantial methane (CH4) deficiency relative to thermochemical equilibrium models for the predicted hydrogen-dominated atmosphere. Moreover, we report the presence of some H2O and traces of CO2. Because CH4 is expected to be the dominant carbon-bearing species, disequilibrium processes such as vertical mixing and polymerization of methane into substances such as ethylene may be required to explain the hot Neptune's small CH4-to-CO ratio, which is at least 10^5 times smaller than predicted.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2010

Ohmic Dissipation in the Atmospheres of Hot Jupiters

Hot Jupiter atmospheres exhibit fast, weakly-ionized winds. The interaction of these winds with the planetary magnetic field generates drag on the winds and leads to ohmic dissipation of the induced electric currents. We study the magnitude of ohmic dissipation in representative, three-dimensional atmospheric circulation models of the hot Jupiter HD 209458b. We find that ohmic dissipation can reach or exceed 1% of the stellar insolation power in the deepest atmospheric layers, in models with and without dragged winds. Such power, dissipated in the deep atmosphere, appears sufficient to slow down planetary contraction and explain the typically inflated radii of hot Jupiters. This atmospheric scenario does not require a top insulating layer or radial currents that penetrate deep in the planetary interior. Circulation in the deepest atmospheric layers may actually be driven by spatially non-uniform ohmic dissipation. A consistent treatment of magnetic drag and ohmic dissipation is required to further elucidate the consequences of magnetic effects for the atmospheres and the contracting interiors of hot Jupiters.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2010

Photometric and Spectral Signatures of 3D Models of Transiting Giant Exoplanets

Using a 3D GCM, we create dynamical model atmospheres of a representative transiting giant exoplanet, HD 209458b. We post-process these atmospheres with an opacity code to obtain transit radius spectra during the primary transit. Using a spectral atmosphere code, we integrate over the face of the planet seen by an observer at various orbital phases and calculate light curves as a function of wavelength and for different photometric bands. The products of this study are generic predictions for the phase variations of a zero-eccentricity giant planet's transit spectrum and of its light curves. We find that for these models the temporal variations in all quantities and the ingress/egress contrasts in the transit radii are small ($< 1.0$\%). Moreover, we determine that the day/night contrasts and phase shifts of the brightness peaks relative to the ephemeris are functions of photometric band. The $J$, $H$, and $K$ bands are shifted most, while the IRAC bands are shifted least. Therefore, we verify that the magnitude of the downwind shift in the planetary ``hot spot" due to equatorial winds is strongly wavelength-dependent. The phase and wavelength dependence of light curves, and the associated day/night contrasts, can be used to constrain the circulation regime of irradiated giant planets and to probe different pressure levels of a hot Jupiter atmosphere. We posit that though our calculations focus on models of HD 209458b similar calculations for other transiting hot Jupiters in low-eccentricity orbits should yield transit spectra and light curves of a similar character.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2010

Three Dimensional Modeling of Hot Jupiter Atmospheric Flows

We present a three dimensional hot Jupiter model, extending from 200 bar to 1 mbar, using the Intermediate General Circulation Model from the University of Reading. Our horizontal spectral resolution is T31 (equivalent to a grid of 48x96), with 33 logarithmically spaced vertical levels. A simplified (Newtonian) scheme is employed for the radiative forcing. We adopt a physical set up nearly identical to the model of HD 209458b by Cooper & Showman (2005,2006) to facilitate a direct model inter-comparison. Our results are broadly consistent with theirs but significant differences also emerge. The atmospheric flow is characterized by a super-rotating equatorial jet, transonic wind speeds, and eastward advection of heat away from the dayside. We identify a dynamically-induced temperature inversion ("stratosphere") on the planetary dayside and find that temperatures at the planetary limb differ systematically from local radiative equilibrium values, a potential source of bias for transit spectroscopic interpretations. While our model atmosphere is quasi-identical to that of Cooper & Showman (2005,2006) and we solve the same meteorological equations, we use different algorithmic methods, spectral-implicit vs. grid-explicit, which are known to yield fully consistent results in the Earth modeling context. The model discrepancies identified here indicate that one or both numerical methods do not faithfully capture all of the atmospheric dynamics at work in the hot Jupiter context. We highlight the emergence of a shock-like feature in our model, much like that reported recently by Showman et al. (2009), and suggest that improved representations of energy conservation may be needed in hot Jupiter atmospheric models, as emphasized by Goodman (2009).

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2010

Magnetic Drag on Hot Jupiter Atmospheric Winds

Hot Jupiters, with atmospheric temperatures T ~ 1000 K, have residual thermal ionization levels sufficient for the interaction of the ions with the planetary magnetic field to result in a sizable magnetic drag on the (neutral) atmospheric winds. We evaluate the magnitude of magnetic drag in a representative three-dimensional atmospheric model of the hot Jupiter HD 209458b and find that it is a plausible mechanism to limit wind speeds in this class of atmospheres. Magnetic drag has a strong geometrical dependence, both meridionally and from the day to the night side (in the upper atmosphere), which could have interesting consequences for the atmospheric flow pattern. By extension, close-in eccentric planets with transiently heated atmospheres will experience time-variable levels of magnetic drag. A robust treatment of magnetic drag in circulation models for hot atmospheres may require iterated solutions to the magnetic induction and Saha equations as the hydrodynamical flow is evolved.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2010

Radiation-Hydrodynamics of Hot Jupiter Atmospheres

Radiative transfer in planetary atmospheres is usually treated in the static limit, i.e., neglecting atmospheric motions. We argue that hot Jupiter atmospheres, with possibly fast (sonic) wind speeds, may require a more strongly coupled treatment, formally in the regime of radiation-hydrodynamics. To lowest order in v/c, relativistic Doppler shifts distort line profiles along optical paths with finite wind velocity gradients. This leads to flow-dependent deviations in the effective emission and absorption properties of the atmospheric medium. Evaluating the overall impact of these distortions on the radiative structure of a dynamic atmosphere is non-trivial. We present transmissivity and systematic equivalent width excess calculations which suggest possibly important consequences for radiation transport in hot Jupiter atmospheres. If winds are fast and bulk Doppler shifts are indeed important for the global radiative balance, accurate modeling and reliable data interpretation for hot Jupiter atmospheres may prove challenging: it would involve anisotropic and dynamic radiative transfer in a coupled radiation-hydrodynamical flow. On the bright side, it would also imply that the emergent properties of hot Jupiter atmospheres are more direct tracers of their atmospheric flows than is the case for Solar System planets. Radiation-hydrodynamics may also influence radiative transfer in other classes of hot exoplanetary atmospheres with fast winds.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2009

Atmospheric Circulation of Hot Jupiters: A Shallow Three-Dimensional Model

Remote observing of exoplanetary atmospheres is now possible, offering us access to circulation regimes unlike any of the familiar Solar System cases. Atmospheric circulation models are being developed to study these new regimes but model validations and intercomparisons are needed to establish their consistency and accuracy. To this end, we present a simple Earth-like validation of the pseudo-spectral solver of meteorological equations called IGCM (Intermediate General Circulation Model), based on Newtonian relaxation to a prescribed latitudinal profile of equilibrium temperatures. We then describe a straightforward and idealized model extension to the atmospheric flow on a hot Jupiter with the same IGCM solver. This shallow, three-dimensional hot Jupiter model is based on Newtonian relaxation to a permanent day-night pattern of equilibrium temperatures and the absence of surface drag. The baroclinic regime of the Earth's lower atmosphere is contrasted with the more barotropic regime of the simulated hot Jupiter flow. For plausible conditions at the 0.1-1 bar pressure level on HD 209458b, the simulated flow is characterized by unsteadiness, subsonic wind speeds, a zonally-perturbed superrotating equatorial jet and large scale polar vortices. Violation of the Rayleigh-Kuo inflexion point criterion on the flanks of the accelerating equatorial jet indicates that barotropic (horizontal shear) instabilities may be important dynamical features of the simulated flow. Similarities and differences with previously published simulated hot Jupiter flows are briefly noted.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

On Signatures of Atmospheric Features in Thermal Phase Curves of Hot Jupiters

Turbulence is ubiquitous in Solar System planetary atmospheres. In hot Jupiter atmospheres, the combination of moderately slow rotation and thick pressure scale height may result in dynamical weather structures with unusually large, planetary-size scales. Using equivalent-barotropic, turbulent circulation models, we illustrate how such structures can generate a variety of features in the thermal phase curves of hot Jupiters, including phase shifts and deviations from periodicity. Such features may have been spotted in the recent infrared phase curve of HD 189733b. Despite inherent difficulties with the interpretation of disk-integrated quantities, phase curves promise to offer unique constraints on the nature of the circulation regime present on hot Jupiters.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Hot Jupiter Variability in Eclipse Depth

Physical conditions in the atmospheres of tidally-locked, slowly-rotating hot Jupiters correspond to dynamical circulation regimes with Rhines scales and Rossby deformation radii comparable to the planetary radii. Consequently, the large spatial scales of moving atmospheric structures could generate significant photospheric variability. Here, we estimate the level of thermal infrared variability expected in successive secondary eclipse depths, according to hot Jupiter turbulent ``shallow-layer'' models. The variability, at the few percent level or more in models with strong enough winds, is within the reach of Spitzer measurements. Eclipse depth variability is thus a valuable tool to constrain the circulation regime and global wind speeds in hot Jupiter atmospheres.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Toward Eclipse Mapping of Hot Jupiters

Recent Spitzer infrared measurements of hot Jupiter eclipses suggest that eclipse mapping techniques could be used to spatially resolve the day-side photospheric emission of these planets using partial occultations. As a first step in this direction, we simulate ingress/egress lightcurves for the three brightest known eclipsing hot Jupiters and evaluate the degree to which parameterized photospheric emission models can be distinguished from each other with repeated, noisy eclipse measurements. We find that the photometric accuracy of Spitzer is insufficient to use this tool effectively. On the other hand, the level of photospheric details that could be probed with a few JWST eclipse measurements could greatly inform hot Jupiter atmospheric modeling efforts. A JWST program focused on non-parametric eclipse map inversions for hot Jupiters should be actively considered.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

Ca II H and K Chromospheric Emission Lines in Late K and M Dwarfs

We have measured the profiles of the Ca II H and K chromospheric emission lines in 147 main sequence stars of spectral type M5-K7 (0.30-0.55 solar masses) using multiple high resolution spectra obtained during six years with the HIRES spectrometer on the Keck 1 telescope. Remarkably, the average FWHM, equivalent widths, and line luminosities of Ca II H and K increase by a factor of 3 with increasing stellar mass over this small range of stellar masses. We fit the H and K lines with a double Gaussian model to represent both the chromospheric emission and the non-LTE central absorption. Most of the sample stars display a central absorption that is typically redshifted by ~0.1 km/s relative to the emission, but the nature of this velocity gradient remains unknown. The FWHM of the H and K lines increase with stellar luminosity, reminiscent of the Wilson-Bappu effect in FGK-type stars. Both the equivalent widths and FWHM exhibit modest temporal variability in individual stars. At a given value of M_v, stars exhibit a spread in both the equivalent width and FWHM of Ca II H and K, due both to a spread in fundamental stellar parameters including rotation rate, age, and possibly metallicity, and to the spread in stellar mass at a given M_v. The K line is consistently wider than the H line, as expected, and its central absorption is more redshifted, indicating that the H and K lines form at slightly different heights in the chromosphere where the velocities are slightly different. The equivalent width of H-alpha correlates with Ca II H and K only for stars having Ca II equivalent widths above ~2 angstroms, suggesting the existence of a magnetic threshold above which the lower and upper chromospheres become thermally coupled.

astro-ph↗