On the Dayside Atmosphere of WASP-12b

TL;DR

This study investigates the atmospheric structure of exoplanet WASP-12b, revealing that retrieval results are primarily driven by data inputs rather than model assumptions, and highlights the sensitivity of such analyses to input variations.

Contribution

It demonstrates that differences in atmospheric retrievals are often due to input data variations rather than model assumptions and introduces a new physically motivated model considering H- formation.

Findings

Retrieval results are data-driven and unaffected by added species like HCN and C2H2.

Differences in retrievals can stem from subtle input variations such as eclipse depths and line-list databases.

Current data resolution limits the inclusion of a new H- formation model in atmospheric analysis.

Abstract

The atmospheric structure of WASP-12b has been hotly contested for years, with disagreements on the presence of a thermal inversion as well as the carbon-to-oxygen ratio, C/O, due to retrieved abundances of H2O, CO2, and other included species such as HCN and C2H2. Previously, these difficult-to-diagnose discrepancies have been attributed to model differences; assumptions in these models were thought to drive retrievals toward different answers. Here, we show that some of these differences are independent of model assumptions and are instead due to subtle differences in the inputs, such as the eclipse depths and line-list databases. We replicate previously published retrievals and find that the retrieved results are data driven and are mostly unaffected by the addition of species such as HCN and C2H2. We also propose a new physically motivated model that takes into consideration the formation of H- via the thermal dissociation of H2O and H2 at the temperatures reached in the dayside atmosphere of WASP-12b, but the data's current resolution does not support its inclusion in the atmospheric model. This study raises the concern that other exoplanet retrievals may be similarly sensitive to slight changes in the input data.