Atmospheric Characterization via Broadband Color Filters on the PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) Mission

Grenfell, John Lee; Godolt, Mareike; Cabrera, Juan; Carone, Ludmila; Muñoz, Antonio Garcίa; Kitzmann, Daniel; Smith, Alexis M. S.; Rauer, Heike (2020). Atmospheric Characterization via Broadband Color Filters on the PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) Mission. Experimental astronomy, 50(1), pp. 1-49. Springer 10.1007/s10686-020-09660-1

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We assess broadband color filters for the two fast cameras on the PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) space mission with respect to exoplanetary atmospheric characterization. We focus on Ultra Hot Jupiters and Hot Jupiters placed 25pc and 100pc away from the Earth and warm Super-Earths placed 10pc and 25pc away. Our analysis takes as input literature values for the difference in transit depth between the broadband lower (500-675 nm) wavelength interval (hereafter referred to as” blue“) and the upper (675-1125nm) broadband wavelength interval (hereafter referred to as” red“) for transmission, occultation and phase curve analyses. Planets orbiting main sequence central stars with stellar classes F, G, K and M are investigated. We calculate the signal-to-noise ratio with respect to photon and instrument noise for detecting the difference in transit depth between the two spectral intervals. Results suggest that bulk atmospheric composition and planetary geometric albedos could be detected for (Ultra) Hot Jupiters up to ~ 100pc (~25pc) with strong (moderate) Rayleigh extinction. Phase curve information could be extracted for Ultra Hot Jupiters orbiting K and G dwarf stars up to 25pc away. For warm Super-Earths, basic atmospheric types (primary and water-dominated) and the presence of sub-micron hazes in the upper atmosphere could be distinguished for up to a handful of cases up to ~ 10pc.

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