Why heterogeneous cloud particles matter: Iron-bearing species and cloud particle morphology affects exoplanet transmission spectra

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Kiefer, Sven, Samra, Dominic, Lewis, David A., Schneider, Aaron D., Min, Michiel, Carone, Ludmila, Decin, Leen, Helling, Christiane
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Kiefer, Sven
Samra, Dominic
Lewis, David A.
Schneider, Aaron D.
Min, Michiel
Carone, Ludmila
Decin, Leen
Helling, Christiane
author_facet Kiefer, Sven
Samra, Dominic
Lewis, David A.
Schneider, Aaron D.
Min, Michiel
Carone, Ludmila
Decin, Leen
Helling, Christiane
contents The possibility of observing spectral features in exoplanet atmospheres with space missions like JWST and ARIEL necessitates the accurate modelling of cloud particle opacities. In exoplanet atmospheres, cloud particles can be made from multiple materials and be considerably chemically heterogeneous. Therefore, assumptions on the morphology of cloud particles are required to calculate their opacities. The aim of this work is to analyse how different approaches to calculate the opacities of heterogeneous cloud particles affect cloud particle optical properties. We calculate cloud particle optical properties using seven different mixing treatments: four effective medium theories (EMTs: Bruggeman, Landau-Lifshitz-Looyenga (LLL), Maxwell-Garnett, and Linear), core-shell, and two homogeneous cloud particle approximations. We study the mixing behaviour of 21 commonly considered cloud particle materials for exoplanets. To analyse the impact on observations, we study the transmission spectra of HATS-6b, WASP-39b, WASP-76b, and WASP-107b.Materials with large refractive indices, like iron-bearing species or carbon, can change the optical properties of cloud particles when they comprise less than 1\% of the total particle volume. The mixing treatment of heterogeneous cloud particles also has an observable effect on transmission spectroscopy. Assuming core-shell or homogeneous cloud particles results in less muting of molecular features and retains the cloud spectral features of the individual cloud particle materials. The predicted transit depth for core-shell and homogeneous cloud particle materials are similar for all planets used in this work. If EMTs are used, cloud spectral features are broader and cloud spectral features of the individual cloud particle materials are not retained. Using LLL leads to less molecular features in transmission spectra compared to Bruggeman.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_01121
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Why heterogeneous cloud particles matter: Iron-bearing species and cloud particle morphology affects exoplanet transmission spectra
Kiefer, Sven
Samra, Dominic
Lewis, David A.
Schneider, Aaron D.
Min, Michiel
Carone, Ludmila
Decin, Leen
Helling, Christiane
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
The possibility of observing spectral features in exoplanet atmospheres with space missions like JWST and ARIEL necessitates the accurate modelling of cloud particle opacities. In exoplanet atmospheres, cloud particles can be made from multiple materials and be considerably chemically heterogeneous. Therefore, assumptions on the morphology of cloud particles are required to calculate their opacities. The aim of this work is to analyse how different approaches to calculate the opacities of heterogeneous cloud particles affect cloud particle optical properties. We calculate cloud particle optical properties using seven different mixing treatments: four effective medium theories (EMTs: Bruggeman, Landau-Lifshitz-Looyenga (LLL), Maxwell-Garnett, and Linear), core-shell, and two homogeneous cloud particle approximations. We study the mixing behaviour of 21 commonly considered cloud particle materials for exoplanets. To analyse the impact on observations, we study the transmission spectra of HATS-6b, WASP-39b, WASP-76b, and WASP-107b.Materials with large refractive indices, like iron-bearing species or carbon, can change the optical properties of cloud particles when they comprise less than 1\% of the total particle volume. The mixing treatment of heterogeneous cloud particles also has an observable effect on transmission spectroscopy. Assuming core-shell or homogeneous cloud particles results in less muting of molecular features and retains the cloud spectral features of the individual cloud particle materials. The predicted transit depth for core-shell and homogeneous cloud particle materials are similar for all planets used in this work. If EMTs are used, cloud spectral features are broader and cloud spectral features of the individual cloud particle materials are not retained. Using LLL leads to less molecular features in transmission spectra compared to Bruggeman.
title Why heterogeneous cloud particles matter: Iron-bearing species and cloud particle morphology affects exoplanet transmission spectra
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.01121