Publication Abstracts
Evans et al. 2016
Evans, T.M., D.K. Sing, H.R. Wakeford, N. Nikolov, G.E. Ballester, B. Drummond, T. Kataria, N.P. Gibson, , and J. Spake, 2016: Detection of H2O and evidence for TiO/VO in an ultra hot exoplanet atmosphere. Astrophys. J. Lett., 822, no. 1, L4, doi:10.3847/2041-8205/822/1/L4.
We present a primary transit observation for the ultra hot (Teq ∼ 400K) gas giant expolanet WASP-121b, made using the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 in spectroscopic mode across the 1.12-1.64 µm wavelength range. The 1.4 µm water absorption band is detected at high confidence (5.4 σ) in the planetary atmosphere. We also reanalyze ground-based photometric lightcurves taken in the B, r', and z' filters. Significantly deeper transits are measured in these optical bandpasses relative to the near-infrared wavelengths. We conclude that scattering by high-altitude haze alone is unlikely to account for this difference, and instead interpret it as evidence for titanium oxide and vanadium oxide absorption. Enhanced opacity is also inferred across the 1.12-1.3 µm wavelength range, possibly due to iron hydride absorption. If confirmed, WASP-121b will be the first exoplanet with titanium oxide, vanadium oxide, and iron hydride detected in transmission. The latter are important species in M/L dwarfs, and their presence is likely to have a significant effect on the overall physics and chemistry of the atmosphere, including the production of a strong thermal inversion.
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BibTeX Citation
@article{ev03000d,
author={Evans, T. M. and Sing, D. K. and Wakeford, H. R. and Nikolov, N. and Ballester, G. E. and Drummond, B. and Kataria, T. and Gibson, N. P. and Amundsen, D. S. and Spake, J.},
title={Detection of H2O and evidence for TiO/VO in an ultra hot exoplanet atmosphere},
year={2016},
journal={Astrophys. J. Lett.},
volume={822},
number={1},
pages={L4},
doi={10.3847/2041-8205/822/1/L4},
}
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RIS Citation
TY - JOUR ID - ev03000d AU - Evans, T. M. AU - Sing, D. K. AU - Wakeford, H. R. AU - Nikolov, N. AU - Ballester, G. E. AU - Drummond, B. AU - Kataria, T. AU - Gibson, N. P. AU - Amundsen, D. S. AU - Spake, J. PY - 2016 TI - Detection of H2O and evidence for TiO/VO in an ultra hot exoplanet atmosphere JA - Astrophys. J. Lett. VL - 822 IS - 1 SP - L4 DO - 10.3847/2041-8205/822/1/L4 ER -
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