Article Dans Une Revue The Astrophysical Journal Letters Année : 2025

MIRI-LRS Spectrum of a Cold Exoplanet around a White Dwarf: Water, Ammonia, and Methane Measurements

Maël Voyer
Quentin Changeat
Pierre-Olivier Lagage
  • Fonction : Auteur
Pascal Tremblin
Rens Waters
Manuel Güdel
Thomas Henning
Olivier Absil
David Barrado
Jeroen Bouwman
Leen Decin
Adrian M Glauser
John Pye
Alistair Glasse
René Gastaud
Sarah Kendrew
Polychronis Patapis
Ewine F van Dishoeck
Göran Östlin
Tom P Ray
Gillian Wright

Résumé

The study of the atmosphere of exoplanets orbiting white dwarfs is a largely unexplored field. With WD 0806-661 b, we present the first deep dive into the atmospheric physics and chemistry of a cold exoplanet around a white dwarf. We observed WD 0806-661 b using JWST's Mid-InfraRed Instrument Low-Resolution Spectrometer, covering the wavelength range from 5 to 12 μm, and the Imager, providing us with 12.8, 15, 18, and 21 μm photometric measurements. We carried the data reduction of those data sets, tackling second-order effects to ensure a reliable retrieval analysis. Using the TAUREX retrieval code, we inferred the pressure-temperature structure, atmospheric chemistry, mass, and radius of the planet. The spectrum of WD 0806-661 b is shaped by molecular absorption of water, ammonia, and methane, consistent with a cold Jupiter atmosphere, allowing us to retrieve their abundances. From the mixing ratio of water, ammonia, and methane we derive C/O = 0.34 ± 0.06, / = -+ C N 14.4 1.8 2.5 , and N/O = 0.023 ± 0.004 and the ratio of detected metals as a proxy for metallicity. We also derive upper limits for the abundance of CO and CO 2 (1.2 × 10 -6 and 1.6 × 10 -7 , respectively), which were not detected by our retrieval models. While our interpretation of WD 0806-661 b's atmosphere is mostly consistent with our theoretical understanding, some results-such as the lack of evidence for water clouds, an apparent increase in the mixing ratio of ammonia at low pressure, or the retrieved mass at odds with the supposed age-remain surprising and require follow-up observational and theoretical studies to be confirmed.

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hal-05343598 , version 1 (03-11-2025)

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Maël Voyer, Quentin Changeat, Pierre-Olivier Lagage, Pascal Tremblin, Rens Waters, et al.. MIRI-LRS Spectrum of a Cold Exoplanet around a White Dwarf: Water, Ammonia, and Methane Measurements. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2025, 982, ⟨10.3847/2041-8213/adbd46⟩. ⟨hal-05343598⟩
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