ABSTRACT The mass and distribution of metals in the interiors of exoplanets are essential for constraining their formation and evolution processes. Never the less, with only masses and radii measured, the determination of exoplanet interior structures is degenerate, and so far simplified assumptions have mostly been used to derive planetary metallicities. In this work, we present a method based on a state-of-the-art interior code, recently used for Jupiter, and a Bayesian framework, to explore the possibility of retrieving the interior structure of exoplanets. We use masses, radii, equilibrium temperatures, and measured atmospheric metallicities to retrieve planetary bulk metallicities and core masses. Following results on the giant planets in the Solar system and recent development in planet formation, we implement two interior structure models: one with a homogeneous envelope and one with an inhomogeneous one. Our method is first evaluated using a test planet and then applied to a sample of 37 giant exoplanets with observed atmospheric metallicities from the pre-JWST era. Although neither internal structure model is preferred with the current data, it is possible to obtain information on the interior properties of the planets, such as the core mass, through atmospheric measurements in both cases. We present updated metal mass fractions, in agreement with recent results on giant planets in the Solar system.
SEEK ID: https://publications.h-its.org/publications/1708
Research Groups: Theory and Observations of Stars
Publication type: Journal
Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Citation: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 523(4):6282-6292
Date Published: 1st Aug 2023
Registered Mode: by DOI
Views: 1807
Created: 22nd Sep 2023 at 08:45
Last updated: 5th Mar 2024 at 21:25
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