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Explaining the absence of methane in WASP-107b through photochemical modelling

Presentation #624.22 in the session Planetary Atmospheres - Hot Jupiters.

Published onApr 03, 2024
Explaining the absence of methane in WASP-107b through photochemical modelling

Recent observations of WASP-107b have revealed its atmosphere in unprecented detail [Dyrek, Min, Decin et al. (2023) Nature, 1-3]. Next to silicate clouds, two SO2 features were detected, indicating a gas mixture of super-solar metallicity. Additionally, the analysis lead to a non-detection of methane. However, thermochemical predictions show that methane is expected to be the dominant carbon-bearing molecule at temperatures below ~1000 K [Lodders & Fegley (2002) Icarus, 155, 393]. Additionally, an atmosphere enriched in metals would increase the methane content and therefore strengthen its observability. The question raises on what chemical and/or physical processes are responsible for the destruction of methane, or for obscuring its spectral feature. In this work, we run 1D cloud-free chemistry simulations for WASP-107b, thereby varying several parameters that impact the methane distribution. We then generate synthetic transmission spectra with parametrized clouds and perform a grid-fit to the available data to constrain plausible explanations for the absence of methane.

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