Titanium oxide and chemical inhomogeneity in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-189b

TL;DR

This study unambiguously detects titanium oxide and various metals in the atmosphere of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-189b, revealing chemical inhomogeneity and three-dimensional stratification through high-resolution spectroscopy.

Contribution

It provides the first clear detection of TiO in WASP-189b using high-resolution transmission spectroscopy and demonstrates chemical inhomogeneity in its atmosphere.

Findings

Detection of TiO, Fe, Fe+, Ti+, Cr, Mg, V, Mn in WASP-189b's atmosphere

Evidence of spatial chemical gradients and stratification

Confirmation of complex thermo-chemical structure in exoplanet atmospheres

Abstract

The temperature of an atmosphere decreases with increasing altitude, unless a shortwave absorber exists that causes a temperature inversion. Ozone plays this role in the Earth`s atmosphere. In the atmospheres of highly irradiated exoplanets, shortwave absorbers are predicted to be titanium oxide (TiO) and vanadium oxide (VO). Detections of TiO and VO have been claimed using both low and high spectral resolution observations, but later observations have failed to confirm these claims or overturned them. Here we report the unambiguous detection of TiO in the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-189b using high-resolution transmission spectroscopy. This detection is based on applying the cross-correlation technique to many spectral lines of TiO from 460 to 690 nm. Moreover, we report detections of metals, including neutral and singly ionised iron and titanium, as well as chromium, magnesium, vanadium and manganese (Fe, Fe+, Ti, Ti+, Cr, Mg, V, Mn). The line positions of the detected species differ, which we interpret as a consequence of spatial gradients in their chemical abundances, such that they exist in different regions or dynamical regimes. This is direct observational evidence for the three-dimensional thermo-chemical stratification of an exoplanet atmosphere derived from high-resolution ground-based spectroscopy.