Heng, Kevin (2016). A CLOUDINESS INDEX FOR TRANSITING EXOPLANETS BASED ON THE SODIUM AND POTASSIUM LINES: TENTATIVE EVIDENCE FOR HOTTER ATMOSPHERES BEING LESS CLOUDY AT VISIBLE WAVELENGTHS. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 826(1), L16. Institute of Physics Publishing IOP 10.3847/2041-8205/826/1/L16
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We present a dimensionless index that quantifies the degree of cloudiness of the atmosphere of a transiting
exoplanet. Our cloudiness index is based on measuring the transit radii associated with the line center and wing of
the sodium or potassium line. In deriving this index, we revisited the algebraic formulae for inferring the isothermal
pressure scale height from transit measurements. We demonstrate that the formulae of Lecavelier et al. and
Benneke & Seager are identical: the former is inferring the temperature while assuming a value for the mean
molecular mass and the latter is inferring the mean molecular mass while assuming a value for the temperature.
More importantly, these formulae cannot be used to distinguish between cloudy and cloud-free atmospheres. We
derive values of our cloudiness index for a small sample of seven hot Saturns/Jupiters taken from Sing et al. We
show that WASP-17b, WASP-31b, and HAT-P-1b are nearly cloud-free at visible wavelengths. We find the
tentative trend that more irradiated atmospheres tend to have fewer clouds consisting of sub-micron-sized particles.
We also derive absolute sodium and/or potassium abundances ∼102 cm−3 for WASP-17b, WASP-31b, and HATP-1b
(and upper limits for the other objects). Higher-resolution measurements of both the sodium and
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
10 Strategic Research Centers > Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) 08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute > NCCR PlanetS |
UniBE Contributor: |
Heng, Kevin |
Subjects: |
500 Science > 520 Astronomy 500 Science > 530 Physics |
ISSN: |
2041-8205 |
Publisher: |
Institute of Physics Publishing IOP |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Danielle Zemp |
Date Deposited: |
30 Jun 2017 15:10 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 15:03 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.3847/2041-8205/826/1/L16 |
BORIS DOI: |
10.7892/boris.97147 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/97147 |
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