Journal
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Volume 657, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
EDP SCIENCES S A
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202142776
Keywords
planets and satellites: atmospheres; techniques: spectroscopic; planets and satellites: individual: WASP-33b; planets and satellites: individual: KELT-20b/MASCARA-2b
Categories
Funding
- Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (MPG)
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)
- Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO)
- European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) [FICTS-2011-02, ICTS-2017-07-CAHA-4, CAHA16-CE-3978]
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [FOR2544, SPP 1992, RE 1664/16-1, RE 1664/21-1]
- Klaus Tschira Stiftung
- state of Baden-Wurttemberg
- state of Niedersachsen
- Junta de Andalucia
- European Research Council under the Horizon 2020 Framework Program via the ERC Advanced Grant Origins [83 24 28]
- European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant [895525]
- ANID - Millennium Science Initiative [ICN12 009]
- European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program [694513]
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's Excellence Strategy [EXC-2094 - 390783311]
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This study detects the presence of neutral silicon in the dayside atmospheres of two ultra-hot Jupiters for the first time via observation of their thermal emission spectra. The detection of silicon is significant as it plays a fundamental role in cloud formation and the planetary energy balance. The results also confirm the presence of an inverted temperature profile in the dayside atmospheres of both planets.
Atmospheres of highly irradiated gas giant planets host a large variety of atomic and ionic species. Here we observe the thermal emission spectra of the two ultra-hot Jupiters WASP-33b and KELT-20b /MASCARA-2b in the near-infrared wavelength range with CARMENES. Via high-resolution Doppler spectroscopy, we searched for neutral silicon (Si) in their dayside atmospheres. We detect the Si spectral signature of both planets via cross-correlation with model spectra. Detection levels of 4.8 sigma and 5.4 sigma, respectively, are observed when assuming a solar atmospheric composition. This is the first detection of Si in exoplanet atmospheres. The presence of Si is an important finding due to its fundamental role in cloud formation and, hence, for the planetary energy balance. Since the spectral lines are detected in emission, our results also confirm the presence of an inverted temperature profile in the dayside atmospheres of both planets.
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