Related papers: A Multiple Scattering Polarized Radiative Transfer…
Kepler-7b is to date the only exoplanet for which clouds have been inferred from the optical phase curve -- from visible-wavelength whole-disk brightness measurements as a function of orbital phase. Added to this, the fact that the phase…
Water absorption is identified in the atmosphere of HD209458b by comparing models for the planet's transmitted spectrum to recent, multi-wavelength, eclipse-depth measurements (from 0.3 to 1 microns) published by Knutson et al. (2007). A…
The theory of remote sensing shows that observing a planet at multiple phase angles ($\alpha$) is a powerful strategy to characterize its atmosphere. Here, we analyse how the information contained in reflected-starlight spectra of…
Multiple scattering of polarised electromagnetic waves in diffusive media is investigated by means of radiative transfer theory. The method becomes exact in several situations of interest, such as a thick-slab experiment (slab thickness L…
At optical wavelengths, Titan's brightness for large Sun-Titan-observer phase angles significantly exceeds its dayside brightness. The brightening that occurs near back-illumination is due to moderately large haze particles in the moon's…
We present global, three-dimensional numerical simulations of the atmospheric circulation on HD 209458b and HD 189733b and calculate the infrared spectra and light curves predicted by these simulations, which we compare with available…
The analysis of exoplanetary atmospheres often relies upon the observation of transit or eclipse events. While very powerful, these snapshots provide mainly 1-dimensional information on the planet structure and do not easily allow precise…
We present results from an atmospheric circulation study of nine hot Jupiters that comprise a large transmission spectral survey using the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. These observations exhibit a range of spectral behavior over…
Space-borne low-to medium-resolution (R~10^2-10^3) transmission spectroscopy of atmospheres detect the broadest spectral features (alkali doublets, molecular bands, scattering), while high-resolution (R~10^5), ground-based observations…
We use a planetary albedo model to investigate variations in visible wavelength phase curves of exoplanets. The presence of clouds on these exoplanets significantly alters their planetary albedo spectra. We confirm that non-uniform cloud…
Using the POLISH instrument, I am unable to reproduce the large-amplitude polarimetric observations of Berdyugina et al. (2008) to the >99.99% confidence level. I observe no significant polarimetric variability in the HD 189733 system, and…
Warm Saturn type exoplanets orbiting M-dwarfs are particularly suitable for in-depth cloud characterisation through transmission spectroscopy due to their favourable stellar to planetary radius contrast. However, modelling cloud formation…
Telescopes are now able to resolve dust polarization across circumstellar disks at multiple wavelengths, allowing the study of the polarization spectrum. Most disks show clear evidence of dust scattering through their unidirectional…
Multi-band phase variations in principle allow us to infer the longitudinal temperature distributions of planets as a function of height in their atmospheres. For example, 3.6 micron emission originates from deeper layers of the atmosphere…
A general theoretical framework is developed for interpreting spectropolarimetric observations of optically thin emission line scattering from small dust particles. Spatially integrated and spatially resolved line profiles of both scattered…
Transmission spectroscopy is one of the premier methods used to probe the temperature, composition, and cloud properties of exoplanet atmospheres. Recent studies have demonstrated that the multidimensional nature of exoplanet atmospheres --…
As the closest transiting hot Jupiter to Earth, HD 189733b has been the benchmark planet for atmospheric characterization. It has also been the anchor point for much of our theoretical understanding of exoplanet atmospheres from…
We derive the first secondary eclipse map of an exoplanet, HD 189733b, based on Spitzer IRAC 8 micron data. We develop two complementary techniques for deriving the two dimensional planet intensity: regularized slice mapping and spherical…
Simulated exoplanet transmission spectra are critical for planning and interpretation of observations and to explore the sensitivity of spectral features to atmospheric thermochemical processes. We present a publicly available generic model…
Thanks to the advances in modern instrumentation we have learned about many exoplanets that span a wide range of masses and composition. Studying their atmospheres provides insight into planetary origin, evolution, dynamics, and…