Numerical performance of correlated-k distribution method in atmospheric escape simulation

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Ito, Yuichi, Yoshida, Tatsuya, Nakayama, Akifumi
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866914692458348544
author Ito, Yuichi
Yoshida, Tatsuya
Nakayama, Akifumi
author_facet Ito, Yuichi
Yoshida, Tatsuya
Nakayama, Akifumi
contents Atmospheric escape is crucial to understand the evolution of planets in and out of the Solar system and to interpret atmospheric observations. While hydrodynamic escape simulations have been actively developed incorporating detailed processes such as UV heating, chemical reactions, and radiative cooling, the radiative cooling by molecules has been treated as emission from selected lines or rotational/vibrational bands to reduce its numerical cost. However, ad hoc selections of radiative lines would risk estimating inaccurate cooling rates because important lines or wavelengths for atmospheric cooling depend on emitting conditions such as temperature and optical thickness. In this study, we apply the correlated-k distribution (CKD) method to cooling rate calculations for H$_2$-dominant transonic atmospheres containing H$_2$O or CO as radiative species, to investigate its numerical performance and the importance of considering all lines of the molecules. Our simulations demonstrate that the sum of weak lines, which provides only 1 % of the line emission energy in total at optically thin conditions, can become the primary source of radiative cooling in optically thick regions, especially for H$_2$O-containing atmospheres. Also, in our hydrodynamic simulations, the CKD method with a wavelength resolution of 1000 is found to be effective, allowing the calculation of escape rate and temperature profiles with acceptable numerical cost. Our results show the importance of treating all radiative lines and the usefulness of the CKD method in hydrodynamic escape simulations. It is particularly practical for heavy-element-enriched atmospheres considered in small exoplanets, including super-Earths, without any prior selections for effective lines.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_16715
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Numerical performance of correlated-k distribution method in atmospheric escape simulation
Ito, Yuichi
Yoshida, Tatsuya
Nakayama, Akifumi
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Atmospheric escape is crucial to understand the evolution of planets in and out of the Solar system and to interpret atmospheric observations. While hydrodynamic escape simulations have been actively developed incorporating detailed processes such as UV heating, chemical reactions, and radiative cooling, the radiative cooling by molecules has been treated as emission from selected lines or rotational/vibrational bands to reduce its numerical cost. However, ad hoc selections of radiative lines would risk estimating inaccurate cooling rates because important lines or wavelengths for atmospheric cooling depend on emitting conditions such as temperature and optical thickness. In this study, we apply the correlated-k distribution (CKD) method to cooling rate calculations for H$_2$-dominant transonic atmospheres containing H$_2$O or CO as radiative species, to investigate its numerical performance and the importance of considering all lines of the molecules. Our simulations demonstrate that the sum of weak lines, which provides only 1 % of the line emission energy in total at optically thin conditions, can become the primary source of radiative cooling in optically thick regions, especially for H$_2$O-containing atmospheres. Also, in our hydrodynamic simulations, the CKD method with a wavelength resolution of 1000 is found to be effective, allowing the calculation of escape rate and temperature profiles with acceptable numerical cost. Our results show the importance of treating all radiative lines and the usefulness of the CKD method in hydrodynamic escape simulations. It is particularly practical for heavy-element-enriched atmospheres considered in small exoplanets, including super-Earths, without any prior selections for effective lines.
title Numerical performance of correlated-k distribution method in atmospheric escape simulation
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.16715