Global 3D hydrodynamic modeling of in-transit Ly{\alpha} absorption of GJ436b

TL;DR

This study presents a comprehensive 3D hydrodynamic model of GJ436b's escaping atmosphere, successfully reproducing key features of Ly{ extalpha} absorption observed during transit, and highlights the importance of energetic neutral atoms in the process.

Contribution

The paper introduces a fully self-consistent 3D multi-fluid hydrodynamic model that simulates Ly{ extalpha} absorption, accounting for stellar wind interactions and providing insights into atmospheric escape mechanisms.

Findings

Model reproduces observed Ly{ extalpha} absorption features.

Energetic Neutral Atoms outside Roche lobe dominate absorption.

Discrepancies in egress depth suggest additional processes or variability.

Abstract

Using a global 3D, fully self-consistent, multi-fluid hydrodynamic model, we simulate the escaping upper atmosphere of the warm Neptune GJ436b, driven by the stellar XUV radiation impact and gravitational forces and interacting with the stellar wind. Under the typical parameters of XUV flux and stellar wind plasma expected for GJ436, we calculate in-transit absorption in Ly{\alpha} and find that it is produced mostly by Energetic Neutral Atoms outside of the planetary Roche lobe, due to the resonant thermal line broadening. At the same time, the influence of radiation pressure has been shown to be insignificant. The modelled absorption is in good agreement with the observations and reveals such features as strong asymmetry between blue and red wings of the absorbed Ly{\alpha} line profile, deep transit depth in the high velocity blue part of the line reaching more than 70%, and the timing of early ingress. On the other hand, the model produces significantly deeper and longer egress than in observations, indicating that there might be other processes and factors, still not accounted, that affect the interaction between the planetary escaping material and the stellar wind. At the same time, it is possible that the observational data, collected in different measurement campaigns, are affected by strong variations of the stellar wind parameters between the visits, and therefore, they cannot be reproduced altogether with the single set of model parameters.