Friday, August 23, 2013

More Oddities From Exoplanet WASP-19b

EXAMINING THE BROADBAND EMISSION SPECTRUM OF WASP-19b: A NEW z-BAND ECLIPSE DETECTION

Authors:

1. George Zhou (a)
2. Lucyna Kedziora-Chudczer (b)
3. Daniel D. R. Bayliss (a)
4. Jeremy Bailey (b)

Affiliations:

a. Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Cotter Rd, Weston Creek, ACT 2611, Australia

b. School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

Abstract:

WASP-19b is one of the most irradiated hot-Jupiters known. Its secondary eclipse is the deepest of all transiting planets and has been measured in multiple optical and infrared bands. We obtained a z-band eclipse observation with a measured depth of 0.080% ± 0.029%, using the 2 m Faulkes Telescope South, which is consistent with the results of previous observations. We combined our measurement of the z-band eclipse with previous observations to explore atmosphere models of WASP-19b that are consistent with its broadband spectrum. We use the VSTAR radiative transfer code to examine the effect of varying pressure-temperature profiles and C/O abundance ratios on the emission spectrum of the planet. We find that models with super-solar carbon enrichment best match the observations, which is consistent with previous model retrieval studies. We also include upper atmosphere haze as another dimension in the interpretation of exoplanet emission spectra and find that particles less than 0.5 μm in size are unlikely to be present in WASP-19b.

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