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An Unusual Transmission Spectrum for the Sub-Saturn KELT-11b Suggestive of a Sub-Solar Water Abundance | | Knicole D. Colón
; Laura Kreidberg
; Michael Line
; Luis Welbanks
; Nikku Madhusudhan
; Thomas Beatty
; Patrick Tamburo
; Kevin B. Stevenson
; Avi Mandell
; Joseph E. Rodriguez
; Thomas Barclay
; Eric D. Lopez
; Keivan G. Stassun
; Daniel Angerhausen
; Jonathan J. Fortney
; David J. James
; Joshua Pepper
; John P. Ahlers
; Peter Plavchan
; Supachai Awiphan
; Cliff Kotnik
; Kim K. McLeod
; Gabriel Murawski
; Heena Chotani
; Danny LeBrun
; William Matzko
; David Rea
; Monica Vidaurri
; Scott Webster
; James K. Williams
; Leafia Sheraden Cox
; Nicole Tan
; Emily A. Gilbert
; | | Date: |
11 May 2020 | | Abstract: | We present an optical-to-infrared transmission spectrum of the inflated
sub-Saturn-mass exoplanet KELT-11b measured with the Transiting Exoplanet
Survey Satellite (TESS), the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Camera 3
(WFC3) G141 spectroscopic grism, and the Spitzer Space Telescope (Spitzer) at
3.6 $mu$m, in addition to a Spitzer 4.5 $mu$m secondary eclipse. The precise
HST transmission spectrum notably reveals a low-amplitude water feature with an
unusual shape. We apply a suite of modeling tools to the transmission spectrum
to investigate the planet’s properties. Based on a retrieval analysis with
varying molecular abundances, we find strong evidence for water absorption in
the spectrum and tentative evidence for other absorbers (HCN, TiO, and AlO)
depending on model assumptions. The retrieved water abundance is generally
$lesssim 0.1 imes$ solar (0.001--0.7$ imes$ solar over a range of model
assumptions), which is several orders of magnitude lower than expected from
planet formation models based on the solar system metallicity trend. We also
consider chemical equilibrium and self-consistent 1D radiative-convective
equilibrium model fits and find that they too prefer low metallicities ($[M/H]
lesssim -2$, consistent with the free retrieval results); however, the
equilibrium models fit poorly and should be interpreted with caution. Finally,
we find that the dayside flux measured from the Spitzer secondary eclipse is
indicative of full heat redistribution from KELT-11b’s dayside to nightside,
assuming the dayside is not cloudy. Altogether, the unusual results for
KELT-11b’s composition are suggestive of new challenges on the horizon for
atmosphere and formation models in the face of increasingly precise
measurements of exoplanet spectra. | | Source: | arXiv, 2005.5153 | | Services: | Forum | Review | PDF | Favorites | |
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