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Titanium oxide and chemical inhomogeneity in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-189 b

Prinoth, Bibiana LU orcid ; Hoeijmakers, Jens LU ; Kitzmann, Daniel ; Sandvik, Elin ; Seidel, Julia V. ; Lendl, Monika ; Borsato, Nicholas LU orcid ; Thorsbro, Brian LU orcid ; Anderson, David R. and Barrado, David , et al. (2022) In Nature Astronomy 6(4). p.449-457
Abstract
The temperature of an atmosphere decreases with increasing altitude, unless a shortwave absorber that causes a temperature inversion exists. Ozone plays this role in the Earth’s atmosphere. In the atmospheres of highly irradiated exoplanets, the shortwave absorbers are predicted to be titanium oxide (TiO) and vanadium oxide (VO). Detections of TiO and VO have been claimed using both low-, and high- spectral-resolution observations, but subsequent observations have failed to confirm these claims or overturned them. Here we report the unambiguous detection of TiO in the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-189 b using high-resolution transmission spectroscopy. This detection is based on applying the cross-correlation technique to many spectral lines of... (More)
The temperature of an atmosphere decreases with increasing altitude, unless a shortwave absorber that causes a temperature inversion exists. Ozone plays this role in the Earth’s atmosphere. In the atmospheres of highly irradiated exoplanets, the shortwave absorbers are predicted to be titanium oxide (TiO) and vanadium oxide (VO). Detections of TiO and VO have been claimed using both low-, and high- spectral-resolution observations, but subsequent observations have failed to confirm these claims or overturned them. Here we report the unambiguous detection of TiO in the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-189 b using high-resolution transmission spectroscopy. This detection is based on applying the cross-correlation technique to many spectral lines of TiO from 460 to 690 nm. Moreover, we report detections of metals, including neutral and singly ionized iron and titanium, as well as chromium, magnesium, vanadium and manganese (Fe, Fe+, Ti, Ti+, Cr, Mg, V, Mn). The line positions of the detected species differ, which we interpret as a consequence of spatial gradients in their chemical abundances, such that they exist in different regions or dynamical regimes. This is direct observational evidence for the three-dimensional thermochemical stratification of an exoplanet atmosphere derived from high-resolution ground-based spectroscopy. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature Astronomy
volume
6
issue
4
pages
449 - 457
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85123785130
ISSN
2397-3366
DOI
10.1038/s41550-021-01581-z
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
fe5c60ac-050c-4fbd-8fca-c31a65f7874d
date added to LUP
2022-01-31 14:50:01
date last changed
2024-04-18 06:11:15
@article{fe5c60ac-050c-4fbd-8fca-c31a65f7874d,
  abstract     = {{The temperature of an atmosphere decreases with increasing altitude, unless a shortwave absorber that causes a temperature inversion exists. Ozone plays this role in the Earth’s atmosphere. In the atmospheres of highly irradiated exoplanets, the shortwave absorbers are predicted to be titanium oxide (TiO) and vanadium oxide (VO). Detections of TiO and VO have been claimed using both low-, and high- spectral-resolution observations, but subsequent observations have failed to confirm these claims or overturned them. Here we report the unambiguous detection of TiO in the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-189 b using high-resolution transmission spectroscopy. This detection is based on applying the cross-correlation technique to many spectral lines of TiO from 460 to 690 nm. Moreover, we report detections of metals, including neutral and singly ionized iron and titanium, as well as chromium, magnesium, vanadium and manganese (Fe, Fe+, Ti, Ti+, Cr, Mg, V, Mn). The line positions of the detected species differ, which we interpret as a consequence of spatial gradients in their chemical abundances, such that they exist in different regions or dynamical regimes. This is direct observational evidence for the three-dimensional thermochemical stratification of an exoplanet atmosphere derived from high-resolution ground-based spectroscopy.}},
  author       = {{Prinoth, Bibiana and Hoeijmakers, Jens and Kitzmann, Daniel and Sandvik, Elin and Seidel, Julia V. and Lendl, Monika and Borsato, Nicholas and Thorsbro, Brian and Anderson, David R. and Barrado, David and Kravchenko, Kateryna and Allart, Romain and Bourrier, Vincent and Cegla, Heather M. and Ehrenreich, David and Fisher, Chloe and Lovis, Christophe and Guzmán-Mesa, Andrea and Grimm, Simon and Hooton, Matthew and Morris, Brett M. and Oreshenko, Maria and Pino, Lorenzo and Heng, Kevin}},
  issn         = {{2397-3366}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{449--457}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Astronomy}},
  title        = {{Titanium oxide and chemical inhomogeneity in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-189 b}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41550-021-01581-z}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41550-021-01581-z}},
  volume       = {{6}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}