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Vanadium oxide and a sharp onset of cold-trapping on a giant exoplanet

Pelletier, Stefan LU ; Benneke, Björn ; Ali-Dib, Mohamad ; Prinoth, Bibiana LU orcid ; Kasper, David ; Seifahrt, Andreas ; Bean, Jacob L. ; Debras, Florian ; Klein, Baptiste and Bazinet, Luc , et al. (2023) In Nature 619(7970). p.491-494
Abstract

The abundance of refractory elements in giant planets can provide key insights into their formation histories1. Owing to the low temperatures of the Solar System giants, refractory elements condense below the cloud deck, limiting sensing capabilities to only highly volatile elements2. Recently, ultra-hot giant exoplanets have allowed for some refractory elements to be measured, showing abundances broadly consistent with the solar nebula with titanium probably condensed out of the photosphere3,4. Here we report precise abundance constraints of 14 major refractory elements on the ultra-hot giant planet WASP-76b that show distinct deviations from proto-solar and a sharp onset in condensation temperature. In... (More)

The abundance of refractory elements in giant planets can provide key insights into their formation histories1. Owing to the low temperatures of the Solar System giants, refractory elements condense below the cloud deck, limiting sensing capabilities to only highly volatile elements2. Recently, ultra-hot giant exoplanets have allowed for some refractory elements to be measured, showing abundances broadly consistent with the solar nebula with titanium probably condensed out of the photosphere3,4. Here we report precise abundance constraints of 14 major refractory elements on the ultra-hot giant planet WASP-76b that show distinct deviations from proto-solar and a sharp onset in condensation temperature. In particular, we find nickel to be enriched, a possible sign of the accretion of the core of a differentiated object during the evolution of the planet. Elements with condensation temperatures below 1,550 K otherwise closely match those of the Sun5 before sharply transitioning to being strongly depleted above 1,550 K, which is well explained by nightside cold-trapping. We further unambiguously detect vanadium oxide on WASP-76b, a molecule long suggested to drive atmospheric thermal inversions6, and also observe a global east–west asymmetry7 in its absorption signals. Overall, our findings indicate that giant planets have a mostly stellar-like refractory elemental content and suggest that temperature sequences of hot Jupiter spectra can show abrupt transitions wherein a mineral species is either present or completely absent if a cold trap exists below its condensation temperature8.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature
volume
619
issue
7970
pages
4 pages
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:37316661
  • scopus:85161810860
ISSN
0028-0836
DOI
10.1038/s41586-023-06134-0
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
50fa1168-16c0-4b32-bc74-5058c627b6cc
date added to LUP
2023-09-11 12:33:27
date last changed
2024-04-20 04:11:23
@article{50fa1168-16c0-4b32-bc74-5058c627b6cc,
  abstract     = {{<p>The abundance of refractory elements in giant planets can provide key insights into their formation histories<sup>1</sup>. Owing to the low temperatures of the Solar System giants, refractory elements condense below the cloud deck, limiting sensing capabilities to only highly volatile elements<sup>2</sup>. Recently, ultra-hot giant exoplanets have allowed for some refractory elements to be measured, showing abundances broadly consistent with the solar nebula with titanium probably condensed out of the photosphere<sup>3,4</sup>. Here we report precise abundance constraints of 14 major refractory elements on the ultra-hot giant planet WASP-76b that show distinct deviations from proto-solar and a sharp onset in condensation temperature. In particular, we find nickel to be enriched, a possible sign of the accretion of the core of a differentiated object during the evolution of the planet. Elements with condensation temperatures below 1,550 K otherwise closely match those of the Sun<sup>5</sup> before sharply transitioning to being strongly depleted above 1,550 K, which is well explained by nightside cold-trapping. We further unambiguously detect vanadium oxide on WASP-76b, a molecule long suggested to drive atmospheric thermal inversions<sup>6</sup>, and also observe a global east–west asymmetry<sup>7</sup> in its absorption signals. Overall, our findings indicate that giant planets have a mostly stellar-like refractory elemental content and suggest that temperature sequences of hot Jupiter spectra can show abrupt transitions wherein a mineral species is either present or completely absent if a cold trap exists below its condensation temperature<sup>8</sup>.</p>}},
  author       = {{Pelletier, Stefan and Benneke, Björn and Ali-Dib, Mohamad and Prinoth, Bibiana and Kasper, David and Seifahrt, Andreas and Bean, Jacob L. and Debras, Florian and Klein, Baptiste and Bazinet, Luc and Hoeijmakers, H. Jens and Kesseli, Aurora Y. and Lim, Olivia and Carmona, Andres and Pino, Lorenzo and Casasayas-Barris, Núria and Hood, Thea and Stürmer, Julian}},
  issn         = {{0028-0836}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{7970}},
  pages        = {{491--494}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature}},
  title        = {{Vanadium oxide and a sharp onset of cold-trapping on a giant exoplanet}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06134-0}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41586-023-06134-0}},
  volume       = {{619}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}