A tentative detection of He I in the atmosphere of GJ 1214 b

The He I lambda 10833 angstrom triplet is a powerful tool for characterising the upper atmosphere of exoplanets and tracing possible mass loss. Here, we analysed one transit of GJ 1214 b observed with the CARMENES high-resolution spectrograph to study its atmosphere via transmission spectroscopy aro...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Orell-Miquel, Jaume, Montes Gutiérrez, David, Zapatero Osorio, María Rosa
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/72105
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/72105
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:52
Powered mass-loss
Transmission spectrum
Escaping helium
Warm neptune
Exoplanet
Absorption
Angstrom
Transit
Search
Line
Astrofísica
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spelling A tentative detection of He I in the atmosphere of GJ 1214 bOrell-Miquel, JaumeMontes Gutiérrez, DavidZapatero Osorio, María Rosa52Powered mass-lossTransmission spectrumEscaping heliumWarm neptuneExoplanetAbsorptionAngstromTransitSearchLineAstrofísicaThe He I lambda 10833 angstrom triplet is a powerful tool for characterising the upper atmosphere of exoplanets and tracing possible mass loss. Here, we analysed one transit of GJ 1214 b observed with the CARMENES high-resolution spectrograph to study its atmosphere via transmission spectroscopy around the He I triplet. Although previous studies using lower resolution instruments have reported non-detections of He I in the atmosphere of GJ 1214 b, we report here the first potential detection. We reconcile the conflicting results arguing that previous transit observations did not present good opportunities for the detection of He I, due to telluric H2O absorption and OH emission contamination. We simulated those earlier observations, and show evidence that the planetary signal was contaminated. From our single non-telluric-contaminated transit, we determined an excess absorption of 2.10(-0.50)(+0.45)% (4.6 sigma) with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 1.30(-0.25)(+0.30) angstrom. The detection of He I is statistically significant at the 4.6 sigma level, but repeatability of the detection could not be confirmed due to the availability of only one transit. By applying a hydrodynamical model and assuming an H/He composition of 98/2, we found that GJ 1214 b would undergo hydrodynamic escape in the photon-limited regime, losing its primary atmosphere with a mass-loss rate of (1.5-18) x 10(10) g s(-1) and an outflow temperature in the range of 2900-4400 K. Further high-resolution follow-up observations of GJ 1214 b are needed to confirm and fully characterise the detection of an extended atmosphere surrounding GJ 1214 b. If confirmed, this would be strong evidence that this planet has a primordial atmosphere accreted from the original planetary nebula. Despite previous intensive observations from space- and ground-based observatories, our He I excess absorption is the first tentative detection of a chemical species in the atmosphere of this benchmark sub-Neptune planet.EDP ScienciesUniversidad Complutense de Madrid20222022-01-0120222022-01-01journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/72105reponame:Docta Complutenseinstname:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/721052026-06-02T12:44:21Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv A tentative detection of He I in the atmosphere of GJ 1214 b
title A tentative detection of He I in the atmosphere of GJ 1214 b
spellingShingle A tentative detection of He I in the atmosphere of GJ 1214 b
Orell-Miquel, Jaume
52
Powered mass-loss
Transmission spectrum
Escaping helium
Warm neptune
Exoplanet
Absorption
Angstrom
Transit
Search
Line
Astrofísica
title_short A tentative detection of He I in the atmosphere of GJ 1214 b
title_full A tentative detection of He I in the atmosphere of GJ 1214 b
title_fullStr A tentative detection of He I in the atmosphere of GJ 1214 b
title_full_unstemmed A tentative detection of He I in the atmosphere of GJ 1214 b
title_sort A tentative detection of He I in the atmosphere of GJ 1214 b
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Orell-Miquel, Jaume
Montes Gutiérrez, David
Zapatero Osorio, María Rosa
author Orell-Miquel, Jaume
author_facet Orell-Miquel, Jaume
Montes Gutiérrez, David
Zapatero Osorio, María Rosa
author_role author
author2 Montes Gutiérrez, David
Zapatero Osorio, María Rosa
author2_role author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Universidad Complutense de Madrid
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv 52
Powered mass-loss
Transmission spectrum
Escaping helium
Warm neptune
Exoplanet
Absorption
Angstrom
Transit
Search
Line
Astrofísica
topic 52
Powered mass-loss
Transmission spectrum
Escaping helium
Warm neptune
Exoplanet
Absorption
Angstrom
Transit
Search
Line
Astrofísica
description The He I lambda 10833 angstrom triplet is a powerful tool for characterising the upper atmosphere of exoplanets and tracing possible mass loss. Here, we analysed one transit of GJ 1214 b observed with the CARMENES high-resolution spectrograph to study its atmosphere via transmission spectroscopy around the He I triplet. Although previous studies using lower resolution instruments have reported non-detections of He I in the atmosphere of GJ 1214 b, we report here the first potential detection. We reconcile the conflicting results arguing that previous transit observations did not present good opportunities for the detection of He I, due to telluric H2O absorption and OH emission contamination. We simulated those earlier observations, and show evidence that the planetary signal was contaminated. From our single non-telluric-contaminated transit, we determined an excess absorption of 2.10(-0.50)(+0.45)% (4.6 sigma) with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 1.30(-0.25)(+0.30) angstrom. The detection of He I is statistically significant at the 4.6 sigma level, but repeatability of the detection could not be confirmed due to the availability of only one transit. By applying a hydrodynamical model and assuming an H/He composition of 98/2, we found that GJ 1214 b would undergo hydrodynamic escape in the photon-limited regime, losing its primary atmosphere with a mass-loss rate of (1.5-18) x 10(10) g s(-1) and an outflow temperature in the range of 2900-4400 K. Further high-resolution follow-up observations of GJ 1214 b are needed to confirm and fully characterise the detection of an extended atmosphere surrounding GJ 1214 b. If confirmed, this would be strong evidence that this planet has a primordial atmosphere accreted from the original planetary nebula. Despite previous intensive observations from space- and ground-based observatories, our He I excess absorption is the first tentative detection of a chemical species in the atmosphere of this benchmark sub-Neptune planet.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022
2022-01-01
2022
2022-01-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/72105
url https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/72105
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv EDP Sciencies
publisher.none.fl_str_mv EDP Sciencies
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Docta Complutense
instname:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
instname_str Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
reponame_str Docta Complutense
collection Docta Complutense
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15.300724

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