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arxiv 2109.13371 v2 pith:LO7MF6AQ submitted 2021-09-27 astro-ph.EP

Exploring the Effects of Active Magnetic Drag in a GCM of the Ultra-Hot Jupiter WASP-76b

classification astro-ph.EP
keywords magneticdrageffectsplanetcirculationmodelsatmospherictreatment
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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Ultra-hot Jupiters represent an exciting avenue for testing extreme physics and observing atmospheric circulation regimes not found in our solar system. Their high temperatures result in thermally ionized particles embedded in atmospheric winds interacting with the planet's interior magnetic field by generating current and experiencing bulk Lorentz force drag. Previous treatments of magnetic drag in 3D General Circulation Models (GCMs) of ultra-hot Jupiters have mostly been uniform drag timescales applied evenly throughout the planet, which neglects the strong spatial dependence of these magnetic effects. In this work, we apply our locally calculated active magnetic drag treatment in a GCM of the planet WASP-76b. We find the effects of this treatment to be most pronounced in the planet's upper atmosphere, where strong differences between the day and night side circulation are present. These circulation effects alter the resulting phase curves by reducing the hotspot offset and increasing the day-night flux contrast. We compare our models to Spitzer phase curves which imply a magnetic field of at least 3 G for the planet. We additionally contrast our results to uniform drag timescale models. This work highlights the need for more careful treatment of magnetic effects in atmospheric models of hot gas giants.

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