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A High Internal Heat Flux and Large Core in a Warm Neptune Exoplanet

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arxiv 2405.11018 v1 pith:35S2UM4Y submitted 2024-05-17 astro-ph.EP

classification astro-ph.EP
keywords sigmainternalatmosphericexoplanetbeenhighinferencesinflation
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abstract

Interactions between exoplanetary atmospheres and internal properties have long been hypothesized to be drivers of the inflation mechanisms of gaseous planets and apparent atmospheric chemical disequilibrium conditions. However, transmission spectra of exoplanets has been limited in its ability to observational confirm these theories due to the limited wavelength coverage of HST and inferences of single molecules, mostly H$_2$O. In this work, we present the panchromatic transmission spectrum of the approximately 750 K, low-density, Neptune-sized exoplanet WASP-107b using a combination of HST WFC3, JWST NIRCam and MIRI. From this spectrum, we detect spectroscopic features due to H$_2$O (21$\sigma$), CH$_4$ (5$\sigma$), CO (7$\sigma$), CO$_2$ (29$\sigma$), SO$_2$ (9$\sigma$), and NH$_3$ (6$\sigma$). The presence of these molecules enable constraints on the atmospheric metal enrichment (M/H is 10--18$\times$ Solar), vertical mixing strength (log$_{10}$K$_{zz}$=8.4--9.0 cm$^2$s$^{-1}$), and internal temperature ($>$345 K). The high internal temperature is suggestive of tidally-driven inflation acting upon a Neptune-like internal structure, which can naturally explain the planet's large radius and low density. These findings suggest that eccentricity driven tidal heating is a critical process governing atmospheric chemistry and interior structure inferences for a majority of the cool ($<$1,000K) super-Earth-to-Saturn mass exoplanet population.

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Cited by 8 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Continuous helium absorption from the leading and trailing tails of WASP-107b

    astro-ph.EP 2025-05 conditional novelty 7.0 of 10

    Continuous JWST observations of WASP-107b reveal metastable helium absorption beginning 1.5 hours before ingress, evidence of an extended ellipsoidal thermosphere, with spot-corrected water abundance log10 H2O = -2.5 ± 0.6.

  2. A Panchromatic Characterization of the Evening and Morning Atmosphere of WASP-107 b: Composition and Cloud Variations, and Insight into the Effect of Stellar Contamination

    astro-ph.EP 2025-05 conditional novelty 7.0 of 10

    Limb-resolved JWST spectra of WASP-107 b confirm a roughly 180 K evening-morning temperature contrast and suggest the morning limb holds more SO2, CO2, and clouds.

  3. Pyrat Bay 2.0: an Upgraded Framework for Exoplanet Atmosphere Modeling in the JWST Era

    astro-ph.EP 2026-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Pyrat Bay 2.0 adds equilibrium chemistry, radiative equilibrium, and vertically varying abundance retrieval, and simulations indicate JWST-quality spectra can recover such variations.

  4. The Sonora Substellar Atmosphere Models. VII. Flame Skimmer: Cloud-free Atmospheric and Evolutionary Models for the Coldest Substellar Objects

    astro-ph.EP 2026-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    A new cloud-free grid of atmospheric and evolutionary models for ultra-cool substellar objects spanning 50 to 2400 K, with updated disequilibrium chemistry and public data.

  5. Ammonium salt formation and abundance in protoplanetary disks

    astro-ph.EP 2026-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    In a disk model, cosmic-ray-driven chemistry converts gas-phase N2 and CO into ammonium salts and CO2 ice in the inner midplane, making ammonium cyanate and ammonium hydrosulfide the dominant N and S carriers inside ~50 au.

  6. Phase-dependent chemistry of WASP-43 b revealed with a suite of one-, two-, and three-dimensional models

    astro-ph.EP 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Horizontal quenching at wind speeds ≳500 m/s, plus carbon-sulfur chemistry, explains the MIRI non-detection of night-side methane on WASP-43 b without requiring high metallicity.

  7. A parameterised approach to disequilibrium retrievals in the JWST era: Application to NIRCam observations of HD 189733b

    astro-ph.EP 2026-07 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    A quench-pressure parameterisation with two free parameters recovers unbiased C/O and [M/H] from synthetic JWST spectra with vertical mixing, and tentatively detects quenching and photochemical H2S depletion in HD 189...

  8. Understanding eccentric temperate giants: an in-depth study of the architecture and stellar obliquity of the TOI-2134 system

    astro-ph.EP 2026-07 unverdicted novelty 5.0 of 10

    Updated analysis of TOI-2134 with new TESS sectors and spectra confirms an inner mini-Neptune and outer eccentric sub-Saturn, measures their masses and radii, and reports a 59 degree obliquity for the outer planet via...

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