Related papers: Evaporation of extrasolar planets
This dissertation as a whole aims to provide means to better understand hot-Jupiter planets through observing, performing thermochemical calculations, and modeling their atmospheres. We used Spitzer multi-wavelength secondary-eclipse…
We report the first detection of CO emission at high spectral resolution in the day-side infrared thermal spectrum of an exoplanet. These emission lines, found in the atmosphere of the transiting ultra hot Jupiter (UHJ) WASP-33 b, provide…
Planets reflect and linearly polarize the radiation that they receive from their host stars. The emergent polarization is sensitive to aspects of the planet atmosphere such as the gas composition and the occurrence of condensates and their…
Atmospheric escape is now considered the major contributing factor in shaping the demographic of detected exoplanets. However, inferences about the exoplanet populations strongly depend on the accuracy of the models. Direct observational…
Detection of molecules using infrared spectroscopy probes the conditions and compositions of exoplanet atmospheres. Water (H2O), methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), and carbon monoxide (CO) have been detected in two hot Jupiters. These…
The discovery of transiting extrasolar planets has enabled us a number of interesting stduies. Transit photometry reveals the radius and the orbital inclination of transiting planets, and thereby we can learn the true mass and the density…
Currently, the analysis of transmission spectra is the most successful technique to probe the chemical composition of exoplanet atmospheres. But the accuracy of these measurements is constrained by observational limitations and the…
Stellar flares are a frequent occurrence on young low-mass stars around which many detected exoplanets orbit. Flares are energetic, impulsive events, and their impact on exoplanetary atmospheres needs to be taken into account when…
Although transit spectroscopy is a powerful method for studying the composition, thermal properties and dynamics of exoplanet atmospheres, only a few transiting terrestrial exoplanets will be close enough to allow significant transit…
Characterising the atmospheres of exoplanets is key to understanding their nature and provides hints about their formation and evolution. High-resolution measurements of the helium triplet, He(2$^{3}$S), absorption of highly irradiated…
For solar-system objects, ultraviolet spectroscopy has been critical in identifying sources for stratospheric heating and measuring the abundances of a variety of hydrocarbon and sulfur-bearing species, produced via photochemical…
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) detection of an extrasolar planet atmosphere in 2001 was a landmark step forward for the characterization of extrasolar planets. HST detected the trace element sodium, via the neutral atomic resonance…
We calculated an atmospheric grid for hot mini-Neptune and giant exoplanets, that links astrophysical observable parameters- orbital distance and stellar type- with the chemical atmospheric species expected. The grid can be applied to…
We have computed evolutionary models for extrasolar planets which range in mass from 0.1 to 3.0 Jovian Masses, and which range in equilibrium temperature from 113 K to 2000 K. We present four sequences of models, designed to show the…
The anomalously large radii of strongly irradiated exoplanets have remained a major puzzle in astronomy. Based on a 2D steady state atmospheric circulation model, the validity of which is assessed by comparison to 3D calculations, we reveal…
During the first Gyr of their life, exoplanet atmospheres suffer from different atmospheric escape phenomena that can strongly affect the shape and morphology of the exoplanet itself. These processes can be studied with Ly$\alpha$,…
We simulate a Kepler-like observation of a theoretical exoplanet population and we show that the observed orbital period distribution of the Kepler giant planet candidates is best matched by an average stellar specific dissipation function…
The core accretion theory for giant planet formation predicts enrichment of elemental abundances in planetary envelopes caused by runaway accretion of planetesimals, which is consistent with measured super-solar abundances of C, N, P, S,…
The discovery of the first extra-solar planet surrounding a main-sequence star was announced in 1995, based on very precise radial velocity (Doppler) measurements. A total of 34 such planets were known by the end of March 2000, and their…
Previous generation of instruments have the opportunity to discover thousands of extra-solar planets and more will come with the current and future planet-search missions. In order to go one step further in the characterization of…