Physical properties, transmission and emission spectra of the WASP-19 planetary system from multi-colour photometry

TL;DR

This study provides detailed multi-colour photometric measurements of WASP-19b, refining its physical parameters, analyzing its atmospheric spectra, and investigating its thermal structure and composition, revealing a non-inverted atmosphere and complex thermal dynamics.

Contribution

It offers new ground-based multi-colour photometry data and comprehensive spectral analysis of WASP-19b, improving understanding of its atmospheric properties and physical parameters.

Findings

WASP-19b is more bloated and the system is older than previously thought.

No evidence of strong optical absorbers indicating a lack of a dayside inversion.

The planet's temperature distribution suggests inefficient heat redistribution.

Abstract

We present new ground-based, multi-colour, broad-band photometric measurements of the physical parameters, transmission and emission spectra of the transiting extrasolar planet WASP-19b. The measurements are based on observations of 8 transits and four occultations using the 1.5m Danish Telescope, 14 transits at the PEST observatory, and 1 transit observed simultaneously through four optical and three near-infrared filters, using the GROND instrument on the ESO 2.2m telescope. We use these new data to measure refined physical parameters for the system. We find the planet to be more bloated and the system to be twice as old as initially thought. We also used published and archived datasets to study the transit timings, which do not depart from a linear ephemeris. We detected an anomaly in the GROND transit light curve which is compatible with a spot on the photosphere of the parent star. The starspot position, size, spot contrast and temperature were established. Using our new and published measurements, we assembled the planet's transmission spectrum over the 370-2350 nm wavelength range and its emission spectrum over the 750-8000 nm range. By comparing these data to theoretical models we investigated the theoretically-predicted variation of the apparent radius of WASP-19b as a function of wavelength and studied the composition and thermal structure of its atmosphere. We conclude that: there is no evidence for strong optical absorbers at low pressure, supporting the common idea that the planet's atmosphere lacks a dayside inversion; the temperature of the planet is not homogenized, because the high warming of its dayside causes the planet to be more efficient in re-radiating than redistributing energy to the night side; the planet seems to be outside of any current classification scheme.