The ESA-Ariel mission will include a tier dedicated to exoplanet phase curves corresponding to ~10% of the science time. We present here the current observing strategy for studying exoplanet phase curves with Ariel. We define science questions, requirements and a list of potential targets. We also estimate the precision of phase curve reconstruction and atmospheric retrieval using simulated phase curves. Based on this work, we found that full-orbit phase variations for 35-40 exoplanets could be observed during the 3.5-yr mission. This statistical sample would provide key constraints on atmospheric dynamics, composition, thermal structure and clouds of warm exoplanets, complementary to the scientific yield from spectroscopic transits/eclipses measurements.
@article{arxiv.2102.06523,
title = {A survey of exoplanet phase curves with Ariel},
author = {Benjamin Charnay and Joao M. Mendonça and Laura Kreidberg and Nicolas B. Cowan and Jake Taylor and Taylor J. Bell and Olivier Demangeon and Billy Edwards and Carole A. Haswell and Giuseppe Morello and Lorenzo V. Mugnai and Enzo Pascale and Giovanna Tinetti and Pascal Tremblin and Robert T. Zellem},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.06523},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
27 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy, Ariel Special Issue