Alternative Energy Sources for Heating the Stratospheres of Hot Jupiters

Details Alternative Energy Sources for Heating the Stratospheres of Hot Jupiters Alternative Energy Sources for Heating the Stratospheres of Hot Jupiters

Sep 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.4202m&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #42.02

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

Spitzer Space Telescope observations have constrained the atmospheric thermal structure of many transiting extrasolar giant planets. Many of these planets, like their solar system cousins, apparently have hot stratospheres. It has been suggested that absorption in the optical by gaseous TiO and VO provides the necessary energy source to power their thermal emission. While this mechanism is certainly plausible in the hottest Jupiters, temperature inversions have also been observed in cooler planets in which TiO and VO should be condensed into grains. Motivated by the importance of photochemistry in producing important atmospheric absorbers in the solar system, we have explored the role of atmospheric sulfur photochemistry in hot Jupiter atmospheres. Our photochemical kinetics code was previously used to study various problems in solar system, including the aftermath of the S/L-9 impacts into Jupiter. We find that the optically active gases S2 and HS (mercapto) are generated photochemically and thermochemically at T > 1200 K from H2S with peak abundances between 1 and 10 mbar. S2 absorbs UV between 240 and 340 nm and is optically thick for metallicities higher than solar. HS is generally more abundant than S2 and absorbs between 300 and 460 nm. Together these species play an important role in the stratospheric energy budget of hot Jupiters and may provide a mechanism for producing temperature inversions under conditions where gaseous TiO and VO are not present. At lower temperatures, below 1200 K, we find that the atmospheric chemistry enters a different domain where the production of soots may be favored. Such soots may be responsible for the haze detected in the atmosphere of HD189733 and may also play a role in the stratospheric energy budgets of cooler planets.

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