HAT-P-70b through the Eyes of MAROON-X: Constraining Elemental Abundances of Metals and Insights on Atmosphere Dynamics

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Sun, Shi Lin, Pelletier, Stefan, Benneke, Björn, Prinoth, Bibiana, Parmentier, Vivien, Bean, Jacob L., Wardenier, Joost P., Chachan, Yayaati, Vaulato, Valentina
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Sun, Shi Lin
Pelletier, Stefan
Benneke, Björn
Prinoth, Bibiana
Parmentier, Vivien
Bean, Jacob L.
Wardenier, Joost P.
Chachan, Yayaati
Vaulato, Valentina
author_facet Sun, Shi Lin
Pelletier, Stefan
Benneke, Björn
Prinoth, Bibiana
Parmentier, Vivien
Bean, Jacob L.
Wardenier, Joost P.
Chachan, Yayaati
Vaulato, Valentina
contents Ultra-hot Jupiters (UHJs) are exceptional laboratories for studying planetary atmospheres under extreme irradiation conditions. With close-in tidally locked orbits, these planets can have daysides hot enough for metals to be significantly ionized while still maintaining nightsides cold enough for refractory species to potentially condense. We present an analysis of the ultra-hot Jupiter HAT-P-70b taken with the MAROON-X high-resolution spectrograph. Using cross-correlations, we detect 14 neutral and singly ionized species, including Fe I, Fe II, Ti I, Ca I, Ca II, Cr I, Na I, V I, Mn I, Ni I, Mg I, Ba II, O I, and Sr I, with tentative evidence for H I, Co I, and K I. The absorption signals exhibit blueshifts on the order of a few $\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$, consistent with day-to-night winds. We further constrain relative abundances with atmospheric retrievals and demonstrate that some inferred elemental abundance ratios depend strongly on modeling assumptions. In particular, we show that a well-mixed retrieval approach neglecting ionization can strongly bias highly ionizable elements such as Ca and Ti. Accounting for the effects of equilibrium chemistry and thermal ionization generally results in inferred elemental abundance ratios that are closer to expectations for a solar-like composition, although not in all cases. Interestingly, we find a distinct nickel enrichment on HAT-P-70b, adding to the growing number of UHJ studies where the Ni abundance is seemingly enhanced. Our results underline the importance of considering physical and chemical atmospheric processes such as ionization when interpreting high-resolution transmission spectra of UHJs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_07873
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle HAT-P-70b through the Eyes of MAROON-X: Constraining Elemental Abundances of Metals and Insights on Atmosphere Dynamics
Sun, Shi Lin
Pelletier, Stefan
Benneke, Björn
Prinoth, Bibiana
Parmentier, Vivien
Bean, Jacob L.
Wardenier, Joost P.
Chachan, Yayaati
Vaulato, Valentina
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Ultra-hot Jupiters (UHJs) are exceptional laboratories for studying planetary atmospheres under extreme irradiation conditions. With close-in tidally locked orbits, these planets can have daysides hot enough for metals to be significantly ionized while still maintaining nightsides cold enough for refractory species to potentially condense. We present an analysis of the ultra-hot Jupiter HAT-P-70b taken with the MAROON-X high-resolution spectrograph. Using cross-correlations, we detect 14 neutral and singly ionized species, including Fe I, Fe II, Ti I, Ca I, Ca II, Cr I, Na I, V I, Mn I, Ni I, Mg I, Ba II, O I, and Sr I, with tentative evidence for H I, Co I, and K I. The absorption signals exhibit blueshifts on the order of a few $\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$, consistent with day-to-night winds. We further constrain relative abundances with atmospheric retrievals and demonstrate that some inferred elemental abundance ratios depend strongly on modeling assumptions. In particular, we show that a well-mixed retrieval approach neglecting ionization can strongly bias highly ionizable elements such as Ca and Ti. Accounting for the effects of equilibrium chemistry and thermal ionization generally results in inferred elemental abundance ratios that are closer to expectations for a solar-like composition, although not in all cases. Interestingly, we find a distinct nickel enrichment on HAT-P-70b, adding to the growing number of UHJ studies where the Ni abundance is seemingly enhanced. Our results underline the importance of considering physical and chemical atmospheric processes such as ionization when interpreting high-resolution transmission spectra of UHJs.
title HAT-P-70b through the Eyes of MAROON-X: Constraining Elemental Abundances of Metals and Insights on Atmosphere Dynamics
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.07873