Problems with the TiO Hypothesis for Thermal Inversions in Hot Jupiter Atmospheres

Details Problems with the TiO Hypothesis for Thermal Inversions in Hot Jupiter Atmospheres Problems with the TiO Hypothesis for Thermal Inversions in Hot Jupiter Atmospheres

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.6803s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #68.03

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Infrared observations indicate that several transiting extrasolar giant planets have thermal inversions in their upper atmospheres. Above a relative minimum, the temperature appears to increase with altitude. We examine the hypothesis that absorption of optical irradiation by TiO in the upper atmosphere is responsible for the inferred inversions. We find that two processes are likely to drain the upper atmospheres of any TiO that might originally have been there. First, molecular diffusion in a gravitational field will lead heavy molecules, such as TiO, to settle. Furthermore, many planets with thermal inversions are likely to have regions lower in their atmospheres that are cold enough that titanium would condense and rain out, creating a titanium cold-trap. For TiO to persist above the cold trap requires extremely vigorous macroscopic mixing. Parameterizing the macroscopic mixing as a turbulent diffusivity Kzz, we find that maintaining TiO in the upper atmosphere requires Kzz values of 107 - 1011 cm2/s, values that might not be realized in a stably stratified atmosphere.

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