Probing the Physical Properties of Directly Imaged Gas Giant Exoplanets Through Polarization

Details Probing the Physical Properties of Directly Imaged Gas Giant Exoplanets Through Polarization Probing the Physical Properties of Directly Imaged Gas Giant Exoplanets Through Polarization

2011-06-02

arxiv.org/abs/1106.0492v2

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

9 pages, 9 figures, originally submitted for publication 10 March 2011, now in press for MNRAS. v2 incorporates relatively min

Scientific paper

It is becoming clear that the atmospheres of the young, self-luminous extrasolar giant planets imaged to date are dusty. Planets with dusty atmospheres may exhibit detectable amounts of linear polarization in the near-infrared, as has been observed from some field L dwarfs. The asymmetry required in the thermal radiation field to produce polarization may arise either from the rotation-induced oblateness or from surface inhomogeneities, such as partial cloudiness. While it is not possible at present to predict the extent to which atmospheric dynamics on a given planet may produce surface inhomogeneities substantial enough to produce net non-zero disk integrated polarization, the contribution of rotation-induced oblateness can be estimated. Using a self-consistent, spatially homogeneous atmospheric model and a multiple scattering polarization formalism for this class of exoplanets, we show that polarization on the order of 1% may arise due to the rotation-induced oblateness of the planets. The degree of polarization for cloudy planets should peak at the same wavelengths at which the planets are brightest in the near-infrared. The observed polarization may be even higher if surface inhomogeneities exist and play a significant role. Polarized radiation from self-luminous gas giant exoplanets, if detected, provides an additional tool to characterize these young planets and a new method to constrain their surface gravity and masses.

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