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arxiv: 2211.10490 · v2 · pith:HMUPOKHL · submitted 2022-11-18 · astro-ph.EP · astro-ph.SR

Photochemically-produced SO₂ in the atmosphere of WASP-39b

Shang-Min Tsai , Elspeth K. H. Lee , Diana Powell , Peter Gao , Xi Zhang , Julianne Moses , Eric H\'ebrard , Olivia Venot
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Vivien Parmentier Sean Jordan Renyu Hu Munazza K. Alam Lili Alderson Natalie M. Batalha Jacob L. Bean Bj\"orn Benneke Carver J. Bierson Ryan P. Brady Ludmila Carone Aarynn L. Carter Katy L. Chubb Julie Inglis J\'er\'emy Leconte Mercedes Lopez-Morales Yamila Miguel Karan Molaverdikhani Zafar Rustamkulov David K. Sing Kevin B. Stevenson Hannah R Wakeford Jeehyun Yang Keshav Aggarwal Robin Baeyens Saugata Barat Miguel de Val Borro Tansu Daylan Jonathan J. Fortney Kevin France Jayesh M Goyal David Grant James Kirk Laura Kreidberg Amy Louca Sarah E. Moran Sagnick Mukherjee Evert Nasedkin Kazumasa Ohno Benjamin V. Rackham Seth Redfield Jake Taylor Pascal Tremblin Channon Visscher Nicole L. Wallack Luis Welbanks Allison Youngblood Eva-Maria Ahrer Natasha E. Batalha Patrick Behr Zachory K. Berta-Thompson Jasmina Blecic S.L. Casewell Ian J.M. Crossfield Nicolas Crouzet Patricio E. Cubillos Leen Decin Jean-Michel D\'esert Adina D. Feinstein Neale P. Gibson Joseph Harrington Kevin Heng Thomas Henning Eliza M.-R. Kempton Jessica Krick Pierre-Olivier Lagage Monika Lendl Michael Line Joshua D. Lothringer Megan Mansfield N. J. Mayne Thomas Mikal-Evans Enric Palle Everett Schlawin Oliver Shorttle Peter J. Wheatley Sergei N. Yurchenko
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classification astro-ph.EP astro-ph.SR
keywords atmospherewasp-39bexoplanetfeatureobservationsphotochemicalatmospheresatmospheric
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Photochemistry is a fundamental process of planetary atmospheres that regulates the atmospheric composition and stability. However, no unambiguous photochemical products have been detected in exoplanet atmospheres to date. Recent observations from the JWST Transiting Exoplanet Early Release Science Program found a spectral absorption feature at 4.05 $\mu$m arising from SO$_2$ in the atmosphere of WASP-39b. WASP-39b is a 1.27-Jupiter-radii, Saturn-mass (0.28 M$_J$) gas giant exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star with an equilibrium temperature of $\sim$1100 K. The most plausible way of generating SO$_2$ in such an atmosphere is through photochemical processes. Here we show that the SO$_2$ distribution computed by a suite of photochemical models robustly explains the 4.05 $\mu$m spectral feature identified by JWST transmission observations with NIRSpec PRISM (2.7$\sigma$) and G395H (4.5$\sigma$). SO$_2$ is produced by successive oxidation of sulphur radicals freed when hydrogen sulphide (H$_2$S) is destroyed. The sensitivity of the SO$_2$ feature to the enrichment of the atmosphere by heavy elements (metallicity) suggests that it can be used as a tracer of atmospheric properties, with WASP-39b exhibiting an inferred metallicity of $\sim$10$\times$ solar. We further point out that SO$_2$ also shows observable features at ultraviolet and thermal infrared wavelengths not available from the existing observations.

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