Model Atmospheres and Spectra of Extrasolar Giant Planets

Details Model Atmospheres and Spectra of Extrasolar Giant Planets Model Atmospheres and Spectra of Extrasolar Giant Planets

Sep 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.1216m&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #12.16; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1114

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Scientific paper

Of the known extrasolar giant planets, five have estimated effective temperatures below ~ 800K. We report on the application of a radiative-convective equilibrium model, originally developed to study the atmospheres of the solar jovian planets, to these objects (70 Vir b, 47 UMa b, Gl 411 b, 55 Cnc c, and HD 114762 b). The deposition of incident radiation from the various primaries and the estimated internal heat fluxes are included in the models. Condensible species are removed and clouds inserted where appropriate. To span the likely range of planet masses, a variety of surface gravities are considered for each object. Preliminary results suggest that water clouds are present in all these atmospheres except for 70 Vir b and HD 114762 b. Water marginally condenses in the atmosphere of the former while that of the latter should be essentially cloud free. Condensation of trace species (e.g. NH_4Cl and NH_4H_2PO_4) may produce thin hazes in these two cases. Thermochemical equilibrium favors NH_3 and CH_4 in all these atmospheres while N_2 and CO are favored in the atmospheres of the close-orbit, hot companions like 51 Peg b and upsilon And b. The reflected visible and thermal infrared spectra of these objects are dominated by water, methane, and ammonia absorption. We find that the 4 to 5 microns window in CH_4 and H_2O opacity is open for all of these objects. Consequently, as in the case of Jupiter and the brown dwarf Gliese 229 B, the emitted flux in this region is significantly greater than the blackbody flux for the planetary effective temperature. Thus this spectral region is favorable for the detection of extrasolar giant planets and brown dwarfs. Comparison of model spectra with observations would constrain the vertical temperature and cloud structure of these new atmospheres. Burrows et al. (this meeting) use these and other models to examine the evolution of extrasolar giant planets.

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