arXiv subjects

J. -M. Desert

Publications and source records attributed to J. -M. Desert.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2008

Determining atmospheric conditions at the terminator of the hot-Jupiter HD209458b

We present a theoretical model fit to the HST/STIS optical transit transmission spectrum of HD209458b. In our fit, we use the sodium absorption line profile along with the Rayleigh scattering by H_2 to help determine the average temperature-pressure profile at the planetary terminator, and infer the abundances of atomic and molecular species. The observed sodium line profile spans an altitude range of ~3,500 km, corresponding to pressures between ~0.001 and 50 mbar in our atmospheric models. We find that the sodium line profile requires either condensation into sodium sulfide or ionization, necessary to deplete atomic sodium only at high altitudes below pressures of ~3 mbar. The depletion of sodium is supported by an observed sudden abundance change, from 2 times solar abundance in the lower atmosphere to 0.2 solar or lower in the upper atmosphere. Our findings also indicate the presence of a hot atmosphere near stratospheric altitudes corresponding to pressures of 33 mbar, consistent with that of the observed dayside temperature inversion. In addition, we find a separate higher altitude temperature rise is necessary within both the condensation and ionization models, corresponding to pressures below ~0.01 mbar. This hot higher altitude temperature indicates that absorption by atomic sodium can potentially probe the bottom of the thermosphere, and is possibly sensitive to the temperature rise linked to atmospheric escape.

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arXiv2008

Rayleigh scattering by H2 in the extrasolar planet HD209458b

Transiting planets, such as HD209458b, offer a unique opportunity to scrutinize the planetary atmospheric content. Although molecular hydrogen is expected to be the main atmospheric constituent, H2 remains uncovered because of the lack of strong transition from near-ultraviolet to near-infrared. Here we analyse the absorption spectrum of HD209458b obtained by Sing et al. (2008a) which provides a measurement of the absorption depth in the 3000-6200 AA wavelength range. We show that the rise in absorption depth at short wavelengths can be interpreted as Rayleigh scattering within the atmosphere of HD209458b. Since Rayleigh scattering traces the entire atmosphere, this detection enables a direct determination of the pressure-altitude relationship, which is required to determine the absolute fraction of other elements such as sodium. At the zero altitude defined by the absorption depth of 1.453%, which corresponds to a planetary radius of 0.1205 times the stellar radius, we find a pressure of 33+/-5 mbar. Using the variation of the Rayleigh scattering cross-section as a function of wavelength, we determine the temperature to be 2200+/-260 K at 33 mbar pressure.

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arXiv2008

Exoplanet HD 209458b : Evaporation strengthened

Following re-analysis of Hubble Space Telescope observations of primary transits of the extrasolar planet HD209458b at Lyman-alpha, Ben-Jaffel (2007, BJ007) claims that no sign of evaporation is observed. Here we show that, in fact, this new analysis is consistent with the one of Vidal-Madjar et al. (2003, VM003) and supports the detection of evaporation. The apparent disagreement is mainly due to the disparate wavelength ranges that are used to derive the transit absorption depth. VM003 derives a (15+/-4)% absorption depth during transit over the core of the stellar Lyman-alpha line (from -130 km/s to +100 km/s), and this result agrees with the (8.9+/-2.1)% absorption depth reported by BJ007 from a slightly expanded dataset but over a larger wavelength range (+/-200 km/s). These measurements agree also with the (5+/-2)% absorption reported by Vidal-Madjar et al. (2004) over the whole Lyman-alpha line from independent, lower-resolution data. We show that stellar Lyman-alpha variability is unlikely to significantly affect those detections. The HI atoms must necessarily have velocities above the escape velocities and/or be outside the Roche lobe, given the lobe shape and orientation. Absorption by HI in HD209458b's atmosphere has thus been detected with different datasets, and now with independent analyses. All these results strengthen the concept of evaporating hot-Jupiters, as well as the modelization of this phenomenon.

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arXiv2006

Interstellar abundances in the neutral and ionized gas of NGC604

We present FUSE spectra of the giant HII region NGC604 in the spiral galaxy M33. Chemical abundances are derived from far-UV absorption lines and are compared to those derived from optical emission lines. We derived the column densities of HI, NI, OI, SiII, PII, ArI, and FeII, fitting the line profiles with either a single component or several components. Our net results, assuming a single component, show that N, O, Si, and Ar are apparently underabundant in the neutral phase by a factor of 10 or more with respect to the ionized phase, while Fe is the same. However, we discuss the possibility that the absorption lines are made of individual unresolved components, and find that only PII, ArI, and FeII lines should not be affected by the presence of hidden saturated components, while NI, OI, and SiII might be much more affected. If N, O, and Si are actually underabundant in the neutral gas of NGC604 with respect to the ionized gas, this would confirm earlier results obtained for the blue compact dwarfs. However, a deeper analysis focused on P, Ar, and Fe mitigates the above conclusion and indicates that the neutral gas and ionized gas could have similar abundances.

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arXiv2004

Deuterated molecular hydrogen in the Galactic ISM. New observations along seven translucent sightlines

We present column density measurements of the HD molecule in the interstellar gas toward 17 Galactic stars. The values for the seven most heavily reddened sightlines, with E(B-V) = 0.38-0.72, are derived from observations with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). The other ten values are from a reanalysis of spectra obtained with Copernicus. In all cases, high-resolution ground-based observations of KI and/or the CH molecule were used to constrain the gas velocity structure and to correct for saturation effects. Comparisons of the column densities HD, CH, CN, and KI in these 17 sightlines indicate that HD is most tightly correlated with CH. Stringent lower limits to the interstellar D/H ratio, derived from the HD/2H2 ratio, range from 3.7 10^(-7) to 4.3 10^(-6). Our results also suggest that the HD/H2 ratio increases with the molecular fraction f(H2) and that the interstellar D/H ratio might be obtained from HD by probing clouds with f(H2) = 1. Finally, we note an apparent relationship between the molecular fractions of hydrogen and deuterium.

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arXiv2003

FUSE observations of the HI interstellar gas of IZw18

We present the analysis of FUSE observations of the metal-deficient dwarf galaxy IZw18. We measured column densities of HI, NI, OI, ArI, SiII, and FeII. The OI/HI ratio (log(OI/HI)=-4.7^{+0.8}_{-0.6}) is consistent with the O/H ratio observed in the HII regions (all uncertainties are 2-sigma). If the oxygen is depleted in the HI region compared to the HII regions, the depletion is at most 0.5dex. This is also consistent with the log(O/H) ratios ~-5 measured with FUSE in the HI regions of other blue compact dwarf galaxies. With log(NI/OI)=-2.4^{+0.6}_{-0.8}, the measured NI/OI ratio is lower than expected for primary nitrogen. The determination of the NII column density is needed to discriminate between a large ionization of NI or a possible nitrogen deficiency. The neutral argon is also apparently underabundant, indicating that ionization into ArII is likely important. The column densities of the other alpha-chain elements SiII and ArI favor the lower edge of the permitted range of OI column density, log(N(OI))~16.3.

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arXiv2003

FUSE observations of H2 around the Herbig AeBe stars HD 100546 and HD 163296

We present the analysis of FUSE observations of two Herbig AeBe stars known to harbor young circumstellar disks: HD 100546 and HD 163296. In both cases we detect absorption lines from warm and dense H2. The thermalization of the rotational levels up to J~4 allows evaluation of the temperature, density and typical size of the absorbing layer. These quantities are consistent with absorption of the light of the central star by a thin layer of a circumstellar disk seen at an intermediate inclination.

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arXiv2001

Deuterium abundance toward G191-B2B: Results from the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) Mission

High-resolution spectra of the hot white dwarf G191-B2B, covering the wavelength region 905-1187A, were obtained with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). This data was used in conjunction with existing high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope STIS observations to evaluate the total HI, DI, OI and NI column densities along the line of sight. Previous determinations of N(DI) based upon GHRS and STIS observations were controversial due to the saturated strength of the DI Lyman-alpha line. In the present analysis the column density of DI has been measured using only the unsaturated Lyman-beta and Lyman-gamma lines observed by FUSE. A careful inspection of possible systematic uncertainties tied to the modeling of the stellar continuum or to the uncertainties in the FUSE instrumental characteristics has been performed. The column densities derived are: log N(DI) = 13.40 +/-0.07, log N(OI) = 14.86 +/-0.07, and log N(NI) = 13.87 +/-0.07 quoted with 2-sigma uncertainties. The measurement of the HI column density by profile fitting of the Lyman-alpha line has been found to be unsecure. If additional weak hot interstellar components are added to the three detected clouds along the line of sight, the HI column density can be reduced quite significantly, even though the signal-to-noise ratio and spectral resolution at Lyman-alpha are excellent. The new estimate of N(HI) toward G191-B2B reads: log N(HI) = 18.18 +/-0.18 (2-sigma uncertainty), so that the average (D/H) ratio on the line of sight is: (D/H) = 1.66 (+0.9/-0.6) *10^-5 (2-sigma uncertainty).

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arXiv2001

Deuterium Abundance Toward WD2211-495: Results from the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) Mission

We present a deuterium abundance analysis of the line of sight toward the white dwarf WD2211-495 observed with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). Numerous interstellar lines are detected on the continuum of the stellar spectrum. A thorough analysis was performed through the simultaneous fit of interstellar absorption lines detected in the four FUSE channels of multiple observations with different slits. We excluded all saturated lines in order to reduce possible systematic errors on the column density measurements. We report the determination of the average interstellar D/O and D/N ratios along this line of sight at the 95% confidence level: D/O = 4.0 +/-1.2 *10^-2; D/N = 4.4 +/-1.3 *10^-1. In conjunction with FUSE observations of other nearby sight lines, the results of this study will allow a deeper understanding of the present-day abundance of deuterium in the local interstellar medium and its evolution with time.

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arXiv2001

Deuterium toward the WD0621-376 sight line: Results from the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) Mission

Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer observations are presented for WD0621-376, a DA white dwarf star in the local interstellar medium (LISM) at a distance of about 78 pc. The data have a signal-to-noise ratio of about 20-40 per 20 km/s resolution element and cover the wavelength range 905-1187 Å. LISM absorption is detected in the lines of D I, C II, C II*, C III, N I, N II, N III, O I, Ar I, and Fe II. This sight line is partially ionized, with an ionized nitrogen fraction of > 0.23. We determine the ratio $D/O = (3.9 \pm ^{1.3}_{1.0})\times 10^{-2}$ (2$σ$). Assuming a standard interstellar oxygen abundance, we derive ${\rm D/H} \approx 1. 3 \times 10^{-5}$. Using the value of N(H I) derived from EUVE data gives a similar D/H ratio. The D I/N I ratio is $(3.3 \pm ^{1.0}_{0.8})\times 10^{-1}$ (2$σ$).

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arXiv2001

FUSE Observations of Molecular Hydrogen in Translucent Interstellar Clouds: II. The Line of Sight Toward HD 110432

We report the second study from the FUSE survey of molecular hydrogen in translucent clouds, for the line of sight toward HD 110432. This star lies beyond the Coalsack dark nebula, and with E(B-V) = 0.40, and A_V = 1.32 this line of sight bridges the gap between less extinguished diffuse cloud lines of sight with A_V \sim 1, such as Zeta Oph, and the translucent clouds with A_V \gtrsim 2 such as HD 73882. Through profile fitting and a curve-of-growth analysis, we have derived rotational populations for H2 for J = 0--7. The line of sight has a total molecular hydrogen column density, log N(H2) = 20.68 \pm 0.05 cm^{-2}, nearly identical to that toward Zeta Oph, but a factor of three less than HD 73882. The ratio of N(J=1) to N(J=0) yields a kinetic temperature T_{kin} = 63 \pm 7 K, similar to other lines of sight with A_V \gtrsim 1. The high-J lines show considerable excitation above this temperature. The high-J excitation is similar to that toward Zeta Oph, but much smaller than that toward HD 73882. Chemical modeling indicates that the physical conditions in the cloud(s) are very similar to those in the cloud(s) toward Zeta Oph. An analysis of IUE spectra of the Lyman-alpha line gives log N(H I) = 20.85 \pm 0.15 cm^{-2}. Combined with N(H2), we derive a hydrogen molecular fraction, f_{H2} = 0.58 pm 0.12, statistically identical to that found for the lines of sight toward Zeta Oph and HD 73882. We also report column densities for the HD and CO molecules. From the combined measurements of hydrogen and carbon- containing molecules, the line of sight toward HD 110432 appears quite similar to the diffuse cloud line of sight toward Zeta Oph, and quite dissimilar to the translucent cloud line of sight toward HD 73882.

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