Upper limits on atmospheric abundances of KELT-11b and WASP-69b from a retrieval approach

Context . WASP-69 b and KELT-11 b are two low-density hot Jupiters, which are expected to show strong atmospheric features in their transmission spectra. Such features offer valuable insights into the chemical composition, thermal structure, and cloud properties of exoplanet atmospheres. High-resolution spectroscopic observations can be used to study the line-forming regions in exoplanet atmospheres and potentially detect signals despite the presence of clouds. Aims . We aimed to detect various molecular species and constrain the chemical abundances and cloud deck pressures using high-resolution spectroscopy. Methods . We observed multiple transits of these planets with CARMENES and applied the cross-correlation method to detect atmospheric signatures. Further, we used an injection-recovery approach and retrievals to place constraints on the atmospheric properties. Results . We detected a tentative H 2 O signal for KELT-11 b but not for WASP-69 b, and searches for other molecules such as H 2 S and CH 4 resulted in non-detections for both planets. By investigating the signal strength of injected synthetic models, we constrained which atmospheric abundances and cloud deck pressures are consistent with our cross-correlation results. In addition, we show that a retrieval-based approach leads to similar constraints of these parameters.

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Journal
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Published
2025-11-06
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202555790
Primary Topic
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
Type
article
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article

Upper limits on atmospheric abundances of KELT-11b and WASP-69b from a retrieval approach

M. López‐Puertas, A. Reiners, F. Lesjak, Ε. Πάλλη et al.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
article

Upper limits on atmospheric abundances of KELT-11b and WASP-69b from a retrieval approach

M. López‐Puertas, A. Reiners, F. Lesjak, Ε. Πάλλη, J. A. Caballero, P. J. Amado, J. Orell-Miquel, D. Cont, M. Azzaro, I. Ribas, A. Schweitzer, D. Montes, Karan Molaverdikhani, A. Sánchez-López, F. Yan, A. Hatzes, L. Nortmann, S. Czesla, A. Quirrenbach, A. Peláez-Torres, Th. Henning
article en

Abstract

Context . WASP-69 b and KELT-11 b are two low-density hot Jupiters, which are expected to show strong atmospheric features in their transmission spectra. Such features offer valuable insights into the chemical composition, thermal structure, and cloud properties of exoplanet atmospheres. High-resolution spectroscopic observations can be used to study the line-forming regions in exoplanet atmospheres and potentially detect signals despite the presence of clouds. Aims . We aimed to detect various molecular species and constrain the chemical abundances and cloud deck pressures using high-resolution spectroscopy. Methods . We observed multiple transits of these planets with CARMENES and applied the cross-correlation method to detect atmospheric signatures. Further, we used an injection-recovery approach and retrievals to place constraints on the atmospheric properties. Results . We detected a tentative H 2 O signal for KELT-11 b but not for WASP-69 b, and searches for other molecules such as H 2 S and CH 4 resulted in non-detections for both planets. By investigating the signal strength of injected synthetic models, we constrained which atmospheric abundances and cloud deck pressures are consistent with our cross-correlation results. In addition, we show that a retrieval-based approach leads to similar constraints of these parameters.

Astronomy and AstrophysicsVol. 704
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES), University of Science and Technology of China (CN), Universidad de La Laguna (ES), Heidelberg University (DE), Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (DE), Calar Alto Observatory (ES), Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (ES), Excellence Cluster Origins (DE), Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (DE), Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (DE), Institute of Space Sciences (ES), Centro de Astrobiología (ES), Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (ES), Hamburger Fern-Hochschule (DE), Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg (DE), Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (ES), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE), The University of Texas at Austin (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 77%
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
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