Mass loss from the exoplanet WASP-12b inferred from Spitzer phase curves

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Issue Date
2019-07-25Author
Bell, Taylor J.
Zhang, Michael
Cubillos, Patricio E.
Dang, Lisa
Fossati, Luca
Todorov, Kamen O.
Cowan, Nicolas B.
Deming, Drake
Zellem, Robert T.
Stevenson, Kevin B.
Crossfield, Ian J. M,
Dobbs-Dixon, Ian
Fortney, Jonathan J.
Knutson, Heather A.
Line, Michael R.
Publisher
Royal Astronomical Society
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Rights
Copyright 2019 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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The exoplanet WASP-12b is the prototype for the emerging class of ultrahot, Jupiter-mass exoplanets. Past models have predicted – and near-ultraviolet observations have shown – that this planet is losing mass. We present an analysis of two sets of 3.6 and 4.5 μmSpitzer phase curve observations of the system which show clear evidence of infrared radiation from gas stripped from the planet, and the gas appears to be flowing directly toward or away from the host star. This accretion signature is only seen at 4.5 μm, not at 3.6 μm, which is indicative either of CO emission at the longer wavelength or blackbody emission from cool, ≲600 K gas. It is unclear why WASP-12b is the only ultrahot Jupiter to exhibit this mass-loss signature, but perhaps WASP-12b’s orbit is decaying as some have claimed, while the orbits of other exoplanets may be more stable; alternatively, the high-energy irradiation from WASP-12A may be stronger than the other host stars. We also find evidence for phase offset variability at the level of 6.4σ (46.2°) at 3.6 μm.
Description
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2019 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
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Citation
Taylor J Bell, Michael Zhang, Patricio E Cubillos, Lisa Dang, Luca Fossati, Kamen O Todorov, Nicolas B Cowan, Drake Deming, Robert T Zellem, Kevin B Stevenson, Ian J M Crossfield, Ian Dobbs-Dixon, Jonathan J Fortney, Heather A Knutson, Michael R Line, Mass loss from the exoplanet WASP-12b inferred from Spitzer phase curves, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 489, Issue 2, October 2019, Pages 1995–2013, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2018
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