Infrared Non-detection of Fomalhaut b -- Implications for the Planet Interpretation

The nearby A4-type star Fomalhaut hosts a debris belt in the form of an eccentric ring, which is thought to be caused by dynamical influence from a giant planet companion. In 2008, a detection of a point-source inside the inner edge of the ring was reported and was interpreted as a direct image of the planet, named Fomalhaut b. The detection was made at ~600--800 nm, but no corresponding signatures were found in the near-infrared range, where the bulk emission of such a planet should be expected. Here we present deep observations of Fomalhaut with Spitzer/IRAC at 4.5 um, using a novel PSF subtraction technique based on ADI and LOCI, in order to substantially improve the Spitzer contrast at small separations. The results provide more than an order of magnitude improvement in the upper flux limit of Fomalhaut b and exclude the possibility that any flux from a giant planet surface contributes to the observed flux at visible wavelengths. This renders any direct connection between the observed light source and the dynamically inferred giant planet highly unlikely. We discuss several possible interpretations of the total body of observations of the Fomalhaut system, and find that the interpretation that best matches the available data for the observed source is scattered light from transient or semi-transient dust cloud.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, ApJ 747, 166. V2: updated acknowledgments and reference

Thermal Processes Governing Hot-Jupiter Radii

There have been many proposed explanations for the larger-than-expected radii of some transiting hot Jupiters, including either stellar or orbital energy deposition deep in the atmosphere or deep in the interior. In this paper, we explore the important influences on hot-Jupiter radius evolution of (i) additional heat sources in the high atmosphere, the deep atmosphere, and deep in the convective interior; (ii) consistent cooling of the deep interior through the planetary dayside, nightside, and poles; (iii) the degree of heat redistribution to the nightside; and (iv) the presence of an upper atmosphere absorber inferred to produce anomalously hot upper atmospheres and inversions in some close-in giant planets. In particular, we compare the radius expansion effects of atmospheric and deep-interior heating at the same power levels and derive the power required to achieve a given radius increase when night-side cooling is incorporated. We find that models that include consistent day/night cooling are more similar to isotropically irradiated models when there is more heat redistributed from the dayside to the nightside. In addition, we consider the efficacy of ohmic heating in the atmosphere and/or convective interior in inflating hot Jupiters. Among our conclusions are that (i) the most highly irradiated planets cannot stably have uB > (10 km/s Gauss) over a large fraction of their daysides, where u is the zonal wind speed and B is the dipolar magnetic field strength in the atmosphere, and (ii) that ohmic heating cannot in and of itself lead to a runaway in planet radius.Comment: Accepted by ApJ., 20 pages, 11 figure

The Structure of Exoplanets

The hundreds of exoplanets that have been discovered in the past two decades offer a new perspective on planetary structure. Instead of being the archetypal examples of planets, those of our Solar System are merely possible outcomes of planetary system formation and evolution, and conceivably not even terribly common outcomes (although this remains an open question). Here, we review the diverse range of interior structures that are known to, and speculated to, exist in exoplanetary systems -- from mostly degenerate objects that are more than 10 times as massive as Jupiter, to intermediate-mass Neptune-like objects with large cores and moderate hydrogen/helium envelopes, to rocky objects with roughly the mass of the Earth.Comment: To be published in PNAS special issue on exoplanets. 6 pages, 3 figure

Atmosphere and Spectral Models of the Kepler-Field Planets HAT-P-7b and TrES-2

We develop atmosphere models of two of the three Kepler-field planets that were known prior to the start of the Kepler mission (HAT-P-7b and TrES-2). We find that published Kepler and Spitzer data for HAT-P-7b appear to require an extremely hot upper atmosphere on the dayside, with a strong thermal inversion and little day-night redistribution. The Spitzer data for TrES-2 suggest a mild thermal inversion with moderate day-night redistribution. We examine the effect of nonequilibrium chemistry on TrES-2 model atmospheres and find that methane levels must be adjusted by extreme amounts in order to cause even mild changes in atmospheric structure and emergent spectra. Our best-fit models to the Spitzer data for TrES-2 lead us to predict a low secondary eclipse planet-star flux ratio (~2 x 10^-5) in the Kepler bandpass, which is consistent with what very recent observations have found. Finally, we consider how the Kepler-band optical flux from a hot exoplanet depends on the strength of a possible extra optical absorber in the upper atmosphere. We find that the optical flux is not monotonic in optical opacity, and the non-monotonicity is greater for brighter, hotter stars.Comment: Figures, references, and text slightly updated. Accepted by Ap