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Signatures of X-Ray-dominated Chemistry in the Spectra of Exoplanetary Atmospheres

Journal
Date Issued
2024
Author(s)
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DOI
Abstract
High-energy radiation from stars impacts planetary atmospheres, deeply affecting their chemistry and providing departures from chemical equilibrium. While the upper atmospheric layers are dominated by ionizations induced by extreme-ultraviolet radiation, deeper into the atmosphere, molecular abundances are controlled by a characteristic X-ray-dominated chemistry, mainly driven by an energetic secondary electron cascade. In this work, we aim at identifying molecular photochemically induced fingerprints in the transmission spectra of a giant planet atmosphere. We have developed a numerical code capable of synthesizing transmission spectra with arbitrary spectral resolution, exploiting updated infrared photoabsorption cross sections. Chemical mixing ratios are computed using a photochemical model tailored to investigate high-energy ionization processes. We find that in the case of high levels of stellar activity, synthetic spectra in both low and high resolutions show significant, potentially observable out-of-equilibrium signatures arising mainly from CO, CH4, C2H2, and HCN.
Volume
5
Issue
3
Start page
58
Uri
Url
Issn Identifier
2632-3338
Rights
open.access
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