arXiv subjects

James E. Owen

Publications and source records attributed to James E. Owen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Characterizing the bolometric-photoevaporative transition in young sub-Neptunes with radiation-hydrodynamic simulations

Hydrodynamic atmospheric escape plays a central role in shaping the demographics of small, close-in exoplanets. Two mechanisms have been proposed to drive mass loss: photoevaporation, powered by UV irradiation, and core-powered mass loss, in which a bolometrically heated wind is sustained by cooling from the planetary interior. Although each mechanism can independently reproduce observed exoplanet demographics, both likely operate simultaneously. To quantify their combined impact, we use AIOLOS, a hydrodynamic radiative transfer code, coupled to a planetary evolution model to self-consistently compute atmospheric escape and planetary evolution. We find that as a typical sub-Neptune contracts, it evolves through distinct escape regimes. The youngest, most inflated planets drive a core-powered, bolometrically heated wind because UV radiation cannot reach the bolometric sonic point. This is followed by a transitional regime shaped by both bolometric and UV heating. As radii decrease further, escape rates approach the purely photoevaporative energy limit. We derive analytic scalings for the transition between these regimes, showing that it occurs at smaller radii for lower-mass and more highly irradiated planets, where core-powered escape dominates. Coupling both processes enhances escape even in more massive, cooler sub-Neptunes. We present the first combined mass-loss rates for a range of planet masses and XUV luminosities and show that the thermal structure below the UV absorption radius -- set by atmospheric composition -- also affects escape rates. These results integrate core-powered and photoevaporative escape into a unified framework, demonstrating that a self-consistent treatment of atmospheric composition, escape, and evolution is essential for understanding small exoplanets.

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arXiv2026

CO snow lines are stabilised by the vertical transport of volatiles

Volatile evolution in protoplanetary discs determines the compositional evolution of forming planets. Below their sublimation temperatures, volatiles freeze out from the vapour phase onto dust grains in the disc and transition to being dynamically-coupled to the dust component as opposed to the gas. The boundary between the ice and vapour phases is referred to as the snow line, when thought of as the mid-plane radius at which the phase transition occurs, or the snow surface, when viewed as a 2D (radial and vertical) structure in the disc. We investigate whether the CO snow line (and therefore snow surface) is thermally unstable and therefore liable to changes in its location during disc evolution using the disc evolution code cuDisc, to which we have added an ice-vapour chemistry solver. We find that the instability does lead to there being two steady-state stable equilibrium solutions for the snow surface when including the vertical structure. However, in dynamically-evolving simulations, the disc does not enter a limit-cycle - as seen in previous 1D models - due to the shape of the 2D snow surface and the vertical transport of volatiles. We therefore expect that dynamically evolution of snow lines due to instability is limited to transient, stochastic events rather than oscillatory behaviour with a regular period. However, we also expect the snow surface to evolve substantially during the disc lifetime solely due to changes in the thermal structure driven by evolution of the dust spatial structure and grain-size distribution - this we will explore in future models.

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arXiv2026

Hydrogen airglow from an escaping ultrahot Jupiter atmosphere

Intense high-energy irradiation of close-in gaseous exoplanets drives the rapid escape of their atmospheres, fundamentally shaping planetary demographics. While atmospheric loss is routinely observed via transit absorption in atomic hydrogen, helium, and metal ions, the underlying physical properties, specifically the thermal structure, outflow dynamics, and mass-loss rate, remain poorly constrained due to inherent degeneracies in the transmission geometry. Here we report the first detection of atomic hydrogen emission from the escaping atmosphere of a gas giant. Using high-resolution spectroscopy of the ultrahot Jupiter KELT-9 b, we detect a hydrogen Balmer line (Hα 6564.6 Å) emission signature originating from the planetary dayside. The emission line profile features a distinctive double-peaked shape with 0.1-0.15% peak amplitudes at +/-30 km/s and central self-absorption. This profile breaks transmission degeneracies, providing direct observational constraints on the vertical thermal structure, excited-state hydrogen populations, and wind dynamics in the upper atmosphere of KELT-9 b. Initial modeling reveals a vigorous outflow with a mass-loss rate above 10^{13} g/s, among the highest measured to date for gaseous exoplanets. Our results establish hydrogen airglow emission as a powerful diagnostic of atmospheric escape, opening a new observational window into the evolution of worlds in extreme radiation environments.

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arXiv2026

Revealing the Origin of Desert Dwellers via Stellar Obliquities

Observations suggest that the hot Neptune desert contains the remnants of destroyed gas giants. Recent theoretical work has shown that gas giant destruction via Roche lobe overflow (RLO) can indeed populate the desert with remnant planets, but only if mass transfer removes most of the planet's orbital angular momentum ("lossy" RLO). Motivated by the fact that stellar accretion naturally gives rise to such lossy RLO, in this Letter we examine how planet-to-star mass and angular momentum transfer manifests in the distribution of stellar obliquities. We find that RLO tilts host stars into spin/orbit alignment (within a few ${\sim}$tens of degrees) regardless of initial conditions. Obliquity damping by RLO can only be reversed by the presence of misaligned companion planets within ${\lesssim}$2 au. While tides and mass transfer usually produce stellar spin up, host stars can also emerge from RLO slowly rotating if systems begin strongly retrograde; retrograde RLO reconciles theory with the anomalously slow rotation of the desert dweller host, LTT 9779. Predicted spin/orbit alignment may differentiate RLO from alternative giant planet destruction mechanisms, in particular hot Jupiter disruption during high eccentricity migration (which tends to produce broadly distributed stellar obliquities). We summarize other population-level predictions that can further distinguish RLO from high eccentricity migration. Our work suggests that follow-up obliquity measurements may reveal the formation pathways of desert dwellers, and potentially open a window into gas giants' exposed interiors.

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arXiv2026

Using observations of escaping H/He to constrain the atmospheric composition of sub-Neptunes

The internal composition of sub-Neptunes remains a prominent unresolved question in exoplanetary science. We present a technique to place constraints on envelope mean molecular weight that utilises observations of escaping hydrogen or helium exospheres. This method is based on a simple timescale argument, which states that sub-Neptunes require a sufficiently large hydrogen or helium reservoir to explain on-going escape at their observed rates. This then naturally leads to an upper limit on atmospheric mean molecular weight. We formalise this argument within a Bayesian inference model and apply it to the archetypal sub-Neptunes GJ-436 b, TOI-776 b and TOI-776 c, which have all been observed to be losing significant hydrogen content as well as relatively featureless transit spectra when observed with JWST. Combining constraints from atmospheric escape and transit spectroscopy in the case of TOI-776 c allows us to tentatively rule out the high mean molecular weight scenario, pointing towards a low mean molecular weight atmosphere with high-altitude aerosols muting spectral features in the infra-red. Finally, we reframe our analysis to the hycean candidate K2-18 b, which has also been shown to host a tentative escaping hydrogen exosphere. If such a detection is robust, we infer a hydrogen-rich envelope mass fraction of $\log_{10} f_\text{env} = -1.67\pm0.78$, which is inconsistent with the hycean scenario at the $\sim 4σ$ level. This latter result requires further observational follow-up to confirm.

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arXiv2026

Stacking transmission spectra of different exoplanets

In many areas of astronomy, spectra of different objects are co-added or stacked to improve signal-to-noise and reveal population-level characteristics. As the number of exoplanets with measured transmission spectra grows, it becomes important to understand when stacking spectra from different exoplanets is appropriate and what stacked spectra physically represent. Stacking will be particularly valuable for long-period planets, where repeated observations of the same planet are time-consuming. Here, we show that stacked exoplanet transmission spectra can, under well-defined conditions, be represented by spectra generated from the geometric mean of each planet's abundance ratios. We test this by comparing stacked and geometric mean spectra across grids of forward models over JWST's NIRSpec/G395H wavelength range (2.8-5.2$μ$m). For two dominant species (e.g., H$_2$O and CO$_2$), the geometric mean accurately reflects the stacked spectrum if abundance ratios are self-similar across planets. Introducing a third species (e.g., CH$_4$) makes temperature a critical factor, with stacking becoming inappropriate across the CO/CH$_4$ boundary, which is the primary chemical transition considered in this work. Surface gravity exerts only a minor influence when stacking within comparable planetary regimes. We further assess the number of stacked, distinct sub-Neptunes with high-metallicity atmospheres and low-pressure, grey cloud decks required to rule out a flat spectrum at $>5σ$, as a function of both cloud deck pressure and per-planet spectral precision. These results provide guidance on when stacking is useful and on how to interpret stacked exoplanet spectra in the era of population studies of exoplanets.

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arXiv2026

Oxygen left behind: Atmospheric Enrichment due to Fractionation in Sub-Neptunes using BOREAS

The evolution of exoplanetary atmospheres is strongly influenced by atmospheric escape, particularly for close-in planets. Fractionation during atmospheric loss can preferentially remove lighter elements such as hydrogen, while retaining heavier species like oxygen. In this study, we investigate how and under what conditions hydrodynamic escape and chemical fractionation jointly shape the mass and composition of exoplanet atmospheres, especially for mixed H2 + H2O atmospheres. We develop BOREAS, a self-consistent mass loss model coupling a 1D Parker wind formulation with a mass-dependent fractionation scheme, which we apply across a range of planet masses, radii, equilibrium temperatures, and incident XUV fluxes, allowing us to track hydrogen and oxygen escape rates at different snapshots in time. We find that oxygen is efficiently retained over most of the parameter space. Significant oxygen loss occurs under high incident XUV fluxes, while at intermediate fluxes oxygen loss is largely confined to low-gravity planets. Where oxygen is retained, irradiation is too weak to drive significant escape of hydrogen and thus limiting atmospheric enrichment. By contrast, our model predicts that sub-Neptunes undergo substantial atmospheric enrichment over approx. 200 Myr when hydrogen escape is efficient and accompanied by partial oxygen entrainment. Notably, our results imply that sub-Neptunes near the radius valley can evolve into water-rich planets, in agreement with GJ 9827 d. Present-day water-rich atmospheres may have originated from water-poor envelopes under some conditions, highlighting the need to include chemical fractionation in evolution models. BOREAS is publicly available.

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arXiv2026

BOWIE-ALIGN: Exploring degeneracies in the muted transmission spectrum of the aligned hot Jupiter NGTS-2b with NIRSpec/G395H

We present the first atmospheric observation and characterisation of the aligned, 1468 K hot Jupiter, NGTS-2b, with one JWST NIRSpec/G395H transit. These observations complete the GO 3838 observing campaign of the BOWIE-ALIGN program, which aims to investigate the link between hot Jupiter atmospheric composition and formation history through the atmospheric analysis of planets orbiting F stars that are aligned and misaligned with the host stellar spin axis. The 2.84-5.18 micron spectrum shows weak absorption features attributed to H$_2$O and CO$_2$ absorption, which our free chemistry retrievals fit with posteriors that converge on high mean molecular weight solutions attained through significant H$_2$O mixing ratios. By comparing our results to interior modelling, we show that some of these solutions exceed the 43.5x solar upper limit we obtained from our interior structure models. Such solutions are likely due to cloud-metallicity degeneracies and insufficient wavelength coverage to resolve them. We show that, in the case of our observations, the likelihood distribution of H$_2$O abundances is flat and uninformative, such that our retrievals are biased by the prior. Additionally, our statistically favoured atmospheric solution contains absorption from SO. The chemical abundances retrieved with this model are likely not astrophysically feasible and we demonstrate that the presence of SO is driven by only two data points. Our equilibrium chemistry retrievals hint at a subsolar C/O ratio and supersolar metallicity; however, we find wide posterior distributions that extend to solar values.

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arXiv2026

Using EUV driven external photoevaporation to test viscous evolution of protoplanetary discs

Protoplanetary discs are thought to evolve either through angular momentum transport driven by viscous processes or through angular momentum removal induced by magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) winds. One proposed method to distinguish between these two evolutionary pathways is by comparing mass accretion rates and disc sizes, but observational constraints complicate this distinction. In this study, we investigate how extreme ultraviolet (EUV) external photoevaporation affects the evolution of protoplanetary discs, particularly in environments such as the Orion Nebula Cluster. Using a combination of analytical derivations and 1D numerical simulations, we explore the impact of externally induced mass-loss on disc structure and accretion dynamics. We demonstrate that, in the viscous scenario, there exists a clear, near one-to-one correlation between the mass-loss rate due to external photoevaporative outflows and the mass accretion rate onto the central star. In contrast, MHD wind-driven discs do not exhibit such trend, leading to a distinct evolutionary path. External photoevaporative mass-loss rates and mass accretion rates can both be accurately measured for a population of discs, without a strong model dependence. Thus, our findings provide a robust observational test to distinguish between viscous and MHD wind-driven disc evolution, offering a new approach to constraining angular momentum transport mechanisms in protoplanetary discs. Applying this diagnostic observationally requires joint measurements of $\dot{M}_{\rm acc}$ and $\dot{M}_{\rm pe}$ for the same objects, which are currently scarce in bright HII regions due to contamination and sensitivity limitations.

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arXiv2026

The impact of disc photoevaporation on the long-term evolution of giant planets in mean motion resonances

We investigate the long-term impact of disc photoevaporation on the dynamical stability and evolution of giant planet pairs in mean motion resonances. Using two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations with FARGO3D, in which we have included mass-loss due to photoevaporation, we explore a parameter space covering disc mass, viscosity, planet mass, and resonance type. We find that strong photoevaporation depletes gas in the common gap between the planets, slowing migration and suppressing planet-disc interactions that typically lead to resonance breaking and eccentricity damping. This stabilising effect is most significant for 3:2 resonances, which are more prone to disruption due to the reduced planet spacing. In contrast, 2:1 resonances are generally more robust but can still be destabilised at high disc mass and moderate-to-strong photoevaporation due to asymmetric torques. Photoevaporation can therefore stabilise resonances that would otherwise break, or conversely disrupt resonances that are natively more stable. Even in cases where photoevaporation does not directly affect resonance stability, it typically results in increased planetary eccentricities. These results highlight the complex, system-dependent nature of resonance evolution, with implications for the final orbital architectures of giant planet systems and their detectability via astrometry from missions such as Gaia.

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arXiv2026

BOWIE-ALIGN: Sub-solar C/O ratio and metallicity atmosphere of the misaligned hot Jupiter HAT-P-30b

We present the JWST NIRSpec/G395H transmission spectrum of the misaligned hot Jupiter HAT-P-30b from 2.8--5.2 $μ$m as part of the BOWIE-ALIGN survey, a comparative survey designed to probe the link between planet formation and atmospheric composition in samples of misaligned and aligned hot Jupiters orbiting F-type stars. Through independent data reductions and retrieval analyses, we find evidence for absorption features of H$_2$O and CO$_2$ in the atmosphere of HAT-P-30b. Our retrieved abundances are consistent with equilibrium chemistry, from which we infer a sub-solar C/O ratio (0.16--0.45), and sub-solar and sub-stellar metallicity (0.2--0.8$\times$solar, compared to a stellar metallicity of 1.1--1.6$\times$solar), with muted spectral features. This composition challenges formation models of continuous migration and accretion within a steady disc of stellar metallicity, and could be the result of low C/O ratio gas accretion within the water ice line, low metallicity accretion due to the trapping of volatiles further out in the disc, or the combined accretion of low metallicity gas and carbon-poor solids.

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arXiv2025

Resolving the flat-spectrum conundrum: clumpy aerosol distributions in sub-Neptune atmospheres

Transmission spectroscopy of sub-Neptunes was expected to reveal their compositions and hence origins, yet many show flat near- to mid-infrared spectra. Such spectra can be explained either by metal dominated atmospheres or by high-altitude, grey aerosols. Observations of escaping hydrogen and helium from several of these planets rule out metal dominated atmospheres, while homogeneous distributions of small aerosols cannot produce flat spectra and large particles require unphysically high production rates. We investigate the role of heterogeneous, "clumpy" aerosol distributions in shaping transmission spectra. Modestly optically thick clumps at high altitudes can produce flat spectra even with small particles and physically realistic production rates. Clumping increases the effective photon mean-free path while reducing wavelength dependence, allowing the aerosol distribution to behave as an effective grey absorber. Applying this framework to the sub-Neptune TOI-776c, we show that clumpy aerosols can reconcile the observed flattening of its transmission spectrum with a primordial H/He-dominated atmosphere. We further discuss implications for emission spectra, where enhanced stellar radiation penetration and altered scattering in a clumpy medium could produce observable signatures. These results suggest that clumpy aerosol distributions naturally resolve the tension between flat spectra and low-metallicity atmospheres and may be a common feature of sub-Neptune exoplanets. More broadly, our results highlight the need to consider aerosol heterogeneity when interpreting high-altitude microphysics and the spectral appearance of exoplanet atmospheres with JWST, and motivate theoretical work to identify the physical mechanisms capable of generating clumpy aerosol distributions.

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arXiv2025

ASASSN-24fw: Candidate circumplanetary disk occultation of a main-sequence star

Dusty disks around planetary and substellar companions in outer reaches of exo-planetary systems can be detected as long-lasting occultations, provided the observer is close to the secondary's orbital plane. Here we report optical spectroscopy with KOSMOS (APO), MagE (Magellan) and GHOST (Gemini-S) of ASASSN-24fw (Gaia 07:05:18.97+06:12:19.4), a 4-magnitude dimming event of a main-sequence star which lasted 8.5 months. We discover multiple low-ionization metal emission lines with velocity dispersion $\lesssim 10$ km/s blue-shifted by 27 km/s with respect to the star, as well as kinematically complex Na D absorption. If associated with the occulter, these detections suggest that the occulter is gas-rich. Further, we detect blue-shifted and broad ($\sim 200$ km/s) H$α$ line, which likely originates in the inner circumstellar disk. We confirm the previously reported occultations in 1981 and 1937 seen in historic data, yielding a semi-major axis of the occulter's orbital motion around the star of 14 AU. If the occulter is a circumsecondary disk filling 30-100% of the Hill radius, we estimate the minimum mass of the secondary to be a few Jupiter masses and a disk mass of 1% of the mass of the Moon. Given the age of the star ($>2$ Gyr), the disk is unlikely to be a survivor of the planet formation stage and may be a result of a planetary collision. If Na D absorption and/or metal emission lines originate in the disk, the observations presented here are the first discovery of a circumsecondary disk wind or rotation.

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arXiv2025

A dust condensation instability in AGN atmospheres: failed winds and the broad line region

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are important drivers of galactic evolution; however, the underlying physical processes governing their properties remain uncertain. In particular, the specific cause for the generation of the broad-line region is unclear. There is a region where the underlying accretion disc atmosphere becomes cool enough for dust condensation. Using models of the disc's vertical structure, accounting for dust condensation and irradiation from the central source, we show that their upper atmospheres become extended, dusty, and radiation-pressure-supported. Due to the density--temperature dependence of dust condensation, this extended atmosphere forms as the dust abundance slowly increases with height, resulting in density and temperature scale heights considerably larger than the gas pressure scale height. We show that such an atmospheric structure is linearly unstable. An increase in the gas density raises the dust sublimation temperature, leading to an increased dust abundance, a higher opacity, and hence a net vertical acceleration. Using localised 2D hydrodynamic simulations, we demonstrate the existence of our linear instability. In the non-linear state, the disc atmosphere evolves into ``fountains'' of dusty material that are vertically launched by radiation pressure before being exposed to radiation from the central source, which sublimates the dust and shuts off the radiative acceleration. These dust-free clumps then evolve ballistically, continuing upward before falling back towards the disc under gravity. This clumpy ionized region has velocity dispersions $\gtrsim 1000$ km/s. This instability and our simulations are representative of the Failed Radiatively Accelerated Dusty Outflow (FRADO) model proposed for the AGN broad-line region.

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arXiv2025

The Gradient of Mean Molecular Weight Across the Radius Valley

Photo-evaporation shapes the observed radii of small exoplanets and constrains the underlying distributions of atmospheric and core masses. However, the diversity of atmospheric chemistries corresponding to these distributions remains unelucidated. We develop a first-principles carbon-hydrogen-oxygen-sulfur-silicon (CHOSSi) outgassing model that accounts for non-ideal gas behavior (via fugacities) at high pressures, as well as the tendency for water and hydrogen to dissolve in melt (via solubility laws). We use data-driven radius valley constraints to establish the relationship between the atmospheric surface pressures and melt temperatures of sub-Neptunes. Sub-Neptunes with less massive rocky cores retain less of their primordial hydrogen envelopes, which leads to less heat retention and diminished melt temperatures at the surfaces of these cores. Lower melt temperatures lead thermodynamically to the dominance of carbon-, oxygen-, sulfur- and silicon-bearing molecules over molecular hydrogen, which naturally produce a diversity of mean molecular weights. Our geochemical outgassing calculations robustly predict a gradient of mean molecular weight across the radius valley, where the strength of this gradient is primarily driven by the oxygen fugacity of the molten cores and not by the carbon enrichment (or "metallicity") of the atmosphere. Smaller sub-Neptunes are predicted to have less hydrogen-dominated atmospheres. The precise relationship between the observed and outgassed chemistries requires an understanding of how convection near the core interacts with large-scale atmospheric circulation (driven by stellar heating) near the photosphere, as well as the influence of photochemistry.

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arXiv2025

BOWIE-ALIGN: Weak spectral features in KELT-7b's JWST NIRSpec/G395H transmission spectrum imply a high cloud deck or a low-metallicity atmosphere

Hot Jupiters and their atmospheres are prime targets for transmission spectroscopy due to their extended atmospheres and the corresponding large signal-to-noise, providing the best possible constraints for the atmospheric carbon-to-oxygen (C/O) ratio and metallicity of exoplanets. Within BOWIE-ALIGN, we aim to compare JWST spectra of a sample of orbitally aligned and misaligned hot Jupiters orbiting F-type stars to probe the link between hot Jupiter atmospheres and planet formation history. Here, we present a near-infrared transmission spectrum of the aligned planet KELT-7b using one transit observed with JWST NIRSpec/G395H. We find weak features, only tentative evidence for H$_2$O and CO$_2$ in the atmosphere of KELT-7b. This poses a challenge to constrain the atmospheric properties of KELT-7b and two possible scenarios emerge from equilibrium chemistry and free chemistry retrievals: a high-altitude cloud deck muting all features or an extremely low metallicity atmosphere, respectively. The retrieved C/O ratios from our data reductions range from $0.43 - 0.74$, while the atmospheric metallicity is suggested to be solar to super-solar ($1-16 \times$ solar). Although these wide constraints prevent detailed conclusions about KELT-7b's formation history, a solar-to-super-solar metallicity would imply the accretion of solid material during its formation, which is valuable information for the survey's wider goals of understanding the relative importance of gaseous to solid accretion.

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arXiv2025

Aerosol dynamics on hot exoplanets: the role of radiation pressure

Aerosols appear to be ubiquitous in exoplanetary atmospheres. However because our understanding of the physical processes that govern aerosols is incomplete, their presence makes the measurement of atmospheric properties, such as molecular abundance ratios, difficult. We show that aerosol particles in highly-irradiated exoplanets experience an additional acceleration due to stellar radiation pressure. The strength of this radiative acceleration often exceeds the planet's gravity and can approach values of ~10-20x gravity's for low-density planets (typically sub-Saturns) hosting ~0.1--1 micron aerosols. Since these highly irradiated, low-density planets are often the best targets for atmospheric characterisation with current instrumentation, radiation pressure is likely an important process when considering aerosol dynamics. We find that radiation pressure accelerates hazes produced by photochemistry at high altitudes to faster terminal velocities, causing them to grow more slowly. Hence, the particles are smaller and have lower mass concentrations in the presence of radiation pressure. By simulating haze-like aerosols in a 2D equatorial band model, we show that radiation pressure steepens optical slopes in transmission spectra, resulting in less muted molecular features in the Near-IR and gives rise to a correlation between the strength of radiation pressure and the molecular feature amplitude. Furthermore, the interaction of zonal winds and radiation pressure impacts both the optical slopes and amplitudes on the individual morning and evening terminators.

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arXiv2025

A Disintegrating Rocky World Shrouded in Dust and Gas: Mid-IR Observations of K2-22b using JWST

The disintegrating ultra-short period rocky exoplanet K2-22b periodically emits dusty clouds in a dynamically chaotic process resulting in a variable transit depth from 0-1.3%. The effluents that sublimate off the surface and condense out in space are probably representative of the formerly interior layers convectively transported to the molten surface. Transmission spectroscopy of these transiting clouds reveal spectral fingerprints of the interior composition of this rocky world. We used JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) as a low-resolution slitless spectrograph to observe four predicted transit windows for K2-22b. For each observation, we extracted a transmission spectrum over the spectral range of 4.4-11.8 $μ$m. Over the spectral range of 4.4-8 $μ$m, where the spectral precision is highest, we detect one transit at high significance and two at low significance. While the S/N of the spectrum limits our ability to draw firm conclusions, we find that the data: 1) disfavor featureless, iron-dominated core material, 2) are consistent with some form of magnesium silicate minerals, likely from mantle material, and 3) show a distinct and unexpected feature at $\sim$5 $μ$m. The unexpected feature, also seen weakly in the low-significance transits, is consistent with an unknown gaseous absorber, possibly NO and/or CO$_2$. These findings warrant further study to improve the constraints on the composition of this disintegrating rocky world.

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