Connecting Giant Planet Atmosphere and Interior Modeling: Constraints on Atmospheric Metal Enrichment. (arXiv:1811.11859v1 [astro-ph.EP])

Connecting Giant Planet Atmosphere and Interior Modeling: Constraints on Atmospheric Metal Enrichment. (arXiv:1811.11859v1 [astro-ph.EP])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Thorngren%2E_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">Daniel P. Thorngren.</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Fortney_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Jonathan J. Fortney</a>

Atmospheric characterization through spectroscopic analysis, an essential
tool of modern exoplanet science, can benefit significantly from the context
provided by interior structure models. In particular, the planet’s bulk
metallicity $Z_p$ places an upper limit on potential atmospheric metallicity.
Here we construct interior structure models to derive $Z_p$ and atmospheric
metallicity upper limits for 365 known transiting giant exoplanets. These
limits are low enough that they can usefully inform atmosphere models.
Additionally, we argue that comparing $Z_p$ to the observed atmospheric
metallicity gives a useful measure of how well-mixed metals are within the
planet. This represents a new avenue for learning about planetary interiors. To
aid in the future characterization of new planet discoveries we derive analytic
prior predictions of atmosphere metallicity as a function of planet mass, and
evaluate the effectiveness of our approach on Jupiter and Saturn. We we include
log-linear fits for approximating the metallicities of planets not in our
catalog.

Atmospheric characterization through spectroscopic analysis, an essential
tool of modern exoplanet science, can benefit significantly from the context
provided by interior structure models. In particular, the planet’s bulk
metallicity $Z_p$ places an upper limit on potential atmospheric metallicity.
Here we construct interior structure models to derive $Z_p$ and atmospheric
metallicity upper limits for 365 known transiting giant exoplanets. These
limits are low enough that they can usefully inform atmosphere models.
Additionally, we argue that comparing $Z_p$ to the observed atmospheric
metallicity gives a useful measure of how well-mixed metals are within the
planet. This represents a new avenue for learning about planetary interiors. To
aid in the future characterization of new planet discoveries we derive analytic
prior predictions of atmosphere metallicity as a function of planet mass, and
evaluate the effectiveness of our approach on Jupiter and Saturn. We we include
log-linear fits for approximating the metallicities of planets not in our
catalog.

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