TY - JOUR
T1 - Global Chemistry and Thermal Structure Models for the Hot Jupiter WASP-43b and Predictions for JWST
AU - Venot, Olivia
AU - Parmentier, Vivien
AU - Blecic, Jasmina
AU - Cubillos, Patricio E.
AU - Waldmann, Ingo P.
AU - Changeat, Quentin
AU - Moses, Julianne I.
AU - Tremblin, Pascal
AU - Crouzet, Nicolas
AU - Gao, Peter
AU - Powell, Diana
AU - Lagage, Pierre Olivier
AU - Dobbs-Dixon, Ian
AU - Steinrueck, Maria E.
AU - Kreidberg, Laura
AU - Batalha, Natalie
AU - Bean, Jacob L.
AU - Stevenson, Kevin B.
AU - Casewell, Sarah
AU - Carone, Ludmila
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/2/20
Y1 - 2020/2/20
N2 - The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expected to revolutionize the field of exoplanets. The broad wavelength coverage and the high sensitivity of its instruments will allow characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres with unprecedented precision. Following the Call for the Cycle 1 Early Release Science Program, the Transiting Exoplanet Community was awarded time to observe several targets, including WASP-43b. The atmosphere of this hot Jupiter has been intensively observed but still harbors some mysteries, especially concerning the day-night temperature gradient, the efficiency of the atmospheric circulation, and the presence of nightside clouds. We will constrain these properties by observing a full orbit of the planet and extracting its spectroscopic phase curve in the 5-12 μm range with JWST/MIRI. To prepare for these observations, we performed extensive modeling work with various codes: radiative transfer, chemical kinetics, cloud microphysics, global circulation models, JWST simulators, and spectral retrieval. Our JWST simulations show that we should achieve a precision of 210 ppm per 0.1 μm spectral bin on average, which will allow us to measure the variations of the spectrum in longitude and measure the nightside emission spectrum for the first time. If the atmosphere of WASP-43b is clear, our observations will permit us to determine if its atmosphere has an equilibrium or disequilibrium chemical composition, eventually providing the first conclusive evidence of chemical quenching in a hot Jupiter atmosphere. If the atmosphere is cloudy, a careful retrieval analysis will allow us to identify the cloud composition.
AB - The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expected to revolutionize the field of exoplanets. The broad wavelength coverage and the high sensitivity of its instruments will allow characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres with unprecedented precision. Following the Call for the Cycle 1 Early Release Science Program, the Transiting Exoplanet Community was awarded time to observe several targets, including WASP-43b. The atmosphere of this hot Jupiter has been intensively observed but still harbors some mysteries, especially concerning the day-night temperature gradient, the efficiency of the atmospheric circulation, and the presence of nightside clouds. We will constrain these properties by observing a full orbit of the planet and extracting its spectroscopic phase curve in the 5-12 μm range with JWST/MIRI. To prepare for these observations, we performed extensive modeling work with various codes: radiative transfer, chemical kinetics, cloud microphysics, global circulation models, JWST simulators, and spectral retrieval. Our JWST simulations show that we should achieve a precision of 210 ppm per 0.1 μm spectral bin on average, which will allow us to measure the variations of the spectrum in longitude and measure the nightside emission spectrum for the first time. If the atmosphere of WASP-43b is clear, our observations will permit us to determine if its atmosphere has an equilibrium or disequilibrium chemical composition, eventually providing the first conclusive evidence of chemical quenching in a hot Jupiter atmosphere. If the atmosphere is cloudy, a careful retrieval analysis will allow us to identify the cloud composition.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081206574&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85081206574&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/ab6a94
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/ab6a94
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85081206574
SN - 0004-637X
VL - 890
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
IS - 2
M1 - 176
ER -