Related papers: STCTM: a forward modeling and retrieval framework …
New observational facilities are beginning to enable insights into the three-dimensional (3D) nature of exoplanets. Transmission spectroscopy is the most widely used method for characterizing transiting temperate exoplanet's atmospheres,…
[Abridged] The transmission of light through a planetary atmosphere can be studied as a function of altitude and wavelength using stellar or solar occultations, giving often unique constraints on the atmospheric composition. For exoplanets,…
Transmission spectroscopy facilitates the detection of molecules and/or clouds in the atmospheres of exoplanets. Such studies rely heavily on space-based or large ground-based observatories, as one needs to perform time- resolved, high…
New-generation spectrographs dedicated to the study of exoplanetary atmospheres require a high accuracy in the atmospheric models to better interpret the input spectra. Thanks to space missions, the observed spectra will cover a large…
Transmission spectroscopy is a powerful technique widely used to probe exoplanet terminators. Atmospheric retrievals of transmission spectra are enabling comparative studies of exoplanet atmospheres. However, the atmospheric properties…
Direct detection, also known as direct imaging, is a method for discovering and characterizing the atmospheres of planets at intermediate and wide separations. It is the only means of obtaining spectra of non-transiting exoplanets.…
The inference of the underlying state of the plasma in the solar chromosphere remains extremely challenging because of the nonlocal character of the observed radiation and plasma conditions in this layer. Inversion methods allow us to…
High-resolution Doppler-resolved spectroscopy has presented new opportunities for studying the atmospheres of exoplanets. While the 'classical' cross-correlation approach has proven to be efficient at finding atmospheric species, it is…
[abridged] Measurements of relative isotope abundances can provide unique insights into the formation and evolution histories of celestial bodies. The five stable isotopes of titanium are used to study the early history of the solar system…
Non-LTE model atmospheres are in the forefront of quantitative spectral analyses of early type stars. Yet, such models are barely used in large surveys or even for individual systems. The major reason for this is likely the extreme…
Direct imaging of widely separated exoplanets from space will obtain their reflected light spectra and measure their atmospheric properties, and small and temperate planets will be the focus of the next generation telescopes. In this work,…
The millimeter/sub-millimeter (mm/sub-mm) sky remains a rich but under-explored frontier for transient and variable phenomena. A wide-field, high-sensitivity instrument with a large aperture and degree-scale field of view would open this…
Air quality monitoring in Italy relies on sparse, irregular, ground-based stations that provide high-quality but incomplete measurements of pollution. Chemical transport models (CTMs) offer full spatial and temporal coverage but smooth over…
With a scheduled launch in October 2018, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expected to revolutionise the field of atmospheric characterization of exoplanets. The broad wavelength coverage and high sensitivity of its instruments will…
Recent observations revealed that several extremely low-density exoplanets show featureless transmission spectra. While atmospheric aerosols are a promising explanation for both the low density and featureless spectra, there is another…
In this paper, we present YunMa, an exoplanet cloud simulation and retrieval package, which enables the study of cloud microphysics and radiative properties in exoplanetary atmospheres. YunMa simulates the vertical distribution and sizes of…
Upcoming NASA astrophysics missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope will search for signs of life on planets transiting nearby stars. Doing so will require co-adding dozens of transmission spectra to build up sufficient signal to…
The planned launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in 2018 will herald a new era of exoplanet spectroscopy. JWST will be the first telescope sensitive enough to potentially characterize terrestrial planets from their transmission spectra.…
In the next decade, many optical surveys will aim to tackle the question of dark energy nature, measuring its equation of state parameter at the permil level. This requires trusting the photometric calibration of the survey with a precision…
Observed exoplanet transit spectra are usually retrieved using 1D models to determine atmospheric composition while planetary atmospheres are 3D. With the JWST and future space telescopes such as Ariel, we will be able to obtain…