The bright side of the light curve: A general photometric model of non-transiting exorings

Zuluaga, Jorge I.; Sucerquia, Mario; Alvarado-Montes, Jaime A.

doi:10.1016/j.ascom.2022.100623

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…(2020) and Zuluaga et al. (2022). Additionally, a gaseous torus closely encircling the exoplanet could potentially cause an overestimation of the planet's radius, especially in the case of gas giants (Zuluaga et al., 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…If an exoplanet has high obliquity, it typically results in an inclination of its satellite's orbital plane. Consequently, the satellite's orbital motion around the planet would cause the circumplanetary toroidal structure to also be inclined relative to the planet's orbital plane, potentially leading to diffuse scattering from an inclined exoring that could modulate the transit signal, as explored by for example, Sucerquia et al (2020) and Zuluaga et al (2022). Additionally, a gaseous torus closely encircling the exoplanet could potentially cause an overestimation of the planet's radius, especially in the case of gas giants (Zuluaga et al, 2015).…”

Section: Gravitational and Geological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exomoon Phase Curves: Toroidal Exosphere Simulations of Exo‐Ios Orbiting 8 Exoplanets in Alkali Spectroscopy

Meyer zu Westram,

Oza,

Galli

2024

JGR Planets

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Toroidal atmospheres and exospheres characterized at exoplanets may be fueled by volcanically active exomoons, often referred to as exo‐Ios. We study the neutral outgassing and volatile evolution of a close‐orbiting, evaporating satellite at eight candidate exoplanet‐exomoon systems WASP‐49,‐96,‐69,‐17 b, XO‐2N b, HAT‐P‐1 b, HD‐189733 b, and HD‐209458 b by developing a 3‐D test‐particle Monte Carlo simulation, Simulating the Evolution of Ring Particles Emergent from Natural Satellites. The module is coupled to dishoom, approximating the minimum mass‐flux needed to reproduce observations of alkali line profiles identified in dozens of transmission spectra. We focus on sputtered neutral sodium, limited by photoionization and radiative effects. By considering Earth‐, Io‐, and Enceladus‐like masses, we systematically simulate the imprint of a non‐hydrostatic medium (characteristic of volcanic exospheres) in density and velocity space using a novel Delaunay tesselation field estimator algorithm. Our results demonstrate how exomoons can considerably modulate gas density observations probed near exoplanet transit, depending on the orbital phase of the putative satellite at the time of observation. The density evolution, therefore, manifests on orbital timescales as “exomoon phase curves” from shadow to occultation. We find two regimes of density evolution, characteristic of a: (a) localized cloud and (b) an azimuthally symmetric exoring/torus, degenerate with an exoplanet atmosphere, ranging from ∼109.5±0.5 cm−2 to ∼1015±0.25 cm−2 at our leading candidate WASP‐69b I. In certain orbital architectures, the smallest evaporating satellite mass surprisingly generates the brightest sodium signal, fueling optimism for discovering photometrically indiscernible rocky exomoons. We suggest long baseline monitoring of alkali and SO2 systems in spectroscopy to search for the temporal and spatial variability predicted here.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Gravitational and Geological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exomoon Phase Curves: Toroidal Exosphere Simulations of Exo‐Ios Orbiting 8 Exoplanets in Alkali Spectroscopy

Meyer zu Westram,

Oza,

Galli

2024

JGR Planets

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“…The inner structure, especially gaps within such a ring, can also be a hint of a moon that opened the gap. Although the observation of rings will be a fairly indirect marker for an exomoon system, their discovery is technically easier than the direct detection of a moon [56,118].…”

Section: Rings and Their Internal Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

The “Drake Equation” of Exomoons—A Cascade of Formation, Stability and Detection

Szabó,

Schneider,

Dencs

et al. 2024

Universe

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After 25 years of the prediction of the possibility of observations, and despite the many hundreds of well-studied transiting exoplanet systems, we are still waiting for the announcement of the first confirmed exomoon. We follow the “cascade” structure of the Drake equation but apply it to the chain of events leading to a successful detection of an exomoon. The scope of this paper is to reveal the structure of the problem, rather than to give a quantitative solution. We identify three important steps that can lead us to discovery. The steps are the formation, the orbital dynamics and long-term stability, and the observability of a given exomoon in a given system. This way, the question will be closely related to questions of star formation, planet formation, five possible pathways of moon formation; long-term dynamics of evolved planet systems involving stellar and planetary rotation and internal structure; and the proper evaluation of the observed data, taking the correlated noise of stellar and instrumental origin and the sampling function also into account. We highlight how a successful exomoon observation and the interpretations of the expected further measurements prove to be among the most complex and interdisciplinary questions in astrophysics.

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“…Further-more, Piro & Vissapragada (2020) explored whether super-puffs, which are planets with very low mean densities due to their large radii of ∼4 R ⊕ to 10 R ⊕ but relatively low masses of ∼2 M ⊕ to 6 M ⊕ (Lee & Chiang 2016;Wang & Dai 2019;Libby-Roberts et al 2020), can be explained as ringed exoplanets. Finally, the scattered and reflected light for a ringed extrasolar planet has specific photometric signatures, making it detectable even for non-transiting systems (Arnold & Schneider 2004;Dyudina et al 2005;Sucerquia et al 2020;Zuluaga et al 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scattered polarized radiation of extrasolar circumplanetary rings

Lietzow¹,

Wolf²

2023

Preprint

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Aims. We have investigated the impact of circumplanetary rings consisting of spherical micrometer-sized particles on the net scattered light polarization of extrasolar gas giants. Methods. Using the three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative transfer code POLARIS, we studied the impact of the macroscopic parameters that define the ring, such as its radius and inclination, and the chemical composition of the ring particles on the net scattered polarization. For the spherical ring particles, we applied the Mie scattering theory. We studied the flux and polarization of the scattered stellar radiation as a function of planetary phase angle and wavelength from the optical to the near-infrared. Results. For the chosen grain size distribution, the dust particles in the ring show strong forward scattering at the considered wavelengths. Thus, the reflected flux of the planet dominates the total reflected and polarized flux at small phase angles. However, the scattered and polarized flux of the ring increase at large phase angles and exceeds the total reflected planetary flux. For large rings that contain silicate particles, the total reflected flux is dominated by the radiation scattered by the dust in the ring at all phase angles. As a result, the orientation of polarization is parallel to the scattering plane at small phase angles. In contrast, for a ring that contains water ice particles, the orientation of polarization is parallel to the scattering plane at large phase angles. Depending on the ring inclination and orientation, the total reflected and polarized flux show a specific distribution as well. Large particles show a strong polarization at large phase angles compared to smaller particles. For a Jupiter-like atmosphere that contains methane and aerosols, methane absorption features are missing in the spectrum of a ringed planet. Conclusions. Scattering of the stellar radiation by dust in circumplanetary rings of extrasolar planets results in unique features in the phase-angle-and wavelength-dependent reflected and polarized net flux. Thus, exoplanet polarimetry provides the means to study not only the planetary atmosphere and surface, but also to identify the existence and constrain the properties of exoplanetary rings.

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The bright side of the light curve: A general photometric model of non-transiting exorings

Cited by 6 publications

References 43 publications

Exomoon Phase Curves: Toroidal Exosphere Simulations of Exo‐Ios Orbiting 8 Exoplanets in Alkali Spectroscopy

Exomoon Phase Curves: Toroidal Exosphere Simulations of Exo‐Ios Orbiting 8 Exoplanets in Alkali Spectroscopy

The “Drake Equation” of Exomoons—A Cascade of Formation, Stability and Detection

Scattered polarized radiation of extrasolar circumplanetary rings

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