Publication Abstracts

Tremblin et al. 2017

Tremblin, P., G. Chabrier, N.J. Mayne, D.S. Amundsen, I. Baraffe, F. Debras, B. Drummond, J. Manners, and S. Fromang, 2017: Advection of potential temperature in the atmosphere of irradiated exoplanets: A robust mechanism to explain radius inflation. Astrophys. J., 841, no. 1, 30, doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aa6e57.

The anomalously large radii of strongly irradiated exoplanets have remained a major puzzle in astronomy. Based on a two-dimensional steady-state atmospheric circulation model, the validity of which is assessed by comparison to three-dimensional calculations, we reveal a new mechanism, namely the advection of the potential temperature due to mass and longitudinal momentum conservation, a process occurring in the Earth's atmosphere or oceans. In the deep atmosphere, the vanishing heating flux forces the atmospheric structure to converge to a hotter adiabat than the one obtained with 1D calculations, implying a larger radius for the planet. Not only do the calculations reproduce the observed radius of HD 209458b, but also reproduce the observed correlation between radius inflation and irradiation for transiting planets. Vertical advection of potential temperature induced by non-uniform atmospheric heating thus provides a robust mechanism to explain the inflated radii of irradiated hot Jupiters.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{tr07200b,
  author={Tremblin, P. and Chabrier, G. and Mayne, N. J. and Amundsen, D. S. and Baraffe, I. and Debras, F. and Drummond, B. and Manners, J. and Fromang, S.},
  title={Advection of potential temperature in the atmosphere of irradiated exoplanets: A robust mechanism to explain radius inflation},
  year={2017},
  journal={Astrophys. J.},
  volume={841},
  number={1},
  pages={30},
  doi={10.3847/1538-4357/aa6e57},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - tr07200b
AU  - Tremblin, P.
AU  - Chabrier, G.
AU  - Mayne, N. J.
AU  - Amundsen, D. S.
AU  - Baraffe, I.
AU  - Debras, F.
AU  - Drummond, B.
AU  - Manners, J.
AU  - Fromang, S.
PY  - 2017
TI  - Advection of potential temperature in the atmosphere of irradiated exoplanets: A robust mechanism to explain radius inflation
JA  - Astrophys. J.
VL  - 841
IS  - 1
SP  - 30
DO  - 10.3847/1538-4357/aa6e57
ER  -

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