Detection of Na and K in the atmosphere of the hot Jupiter HAT-P-1b with P200/DBSP

TL;DR

This study presents a high-resolution optical transmission spectrum of HAT-P-1b, revealing sodium and potassium features, and suggests a mostly clear, hazy atmosphere with subsolar elemental abundances, consistent across multiple datasets.

Contribution

First high-resolution optical spectrum of HAT-P-1b showing detailed atmospheric features and consistent retrieval analysis across datasets.

Findings

Detection of pressure broadened Na line wing.

Presence of Na and K line cores.

Evidence for tentative H$_2$O detection.

Abstract

We present a new optical transmission spectrum of the hot Jupiter HAT-P-1b based on two transits observed with the Double Spectrograph (DBSP) on the Palomar 200-inch (P200) telescope. The DBSP transmission spectrum, covering a wavelength range from 3250 to 10007 \r{A}, is consistent with that observed with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), but the former has a finer spectral resolution. The DBSP spectrum alone reveals the presence of a pressure broadened line wing for Na, the line cores for both Na and K, and tentative evidence for H$_2$O. We obtain consistent results from the spectral retrieval analyses performed on the DBSP-only dataset and the DBSP, HST, and Spitzer combined dataset. Our retrievals suggest a mostly clear atmosphere for HAT-P-1b, with a cloud coverage of $22^{+5}_{-3}$% that is dominated by enhanced haze. We derive subsolar abundances for Na, K, and C, and subsolar-to-solar for O. Future observations with James Webb Space Telescope and ground-based high-resolution spectrographs should be able to not only confirm the presence of these species but also stringently constrain the formation and migration pathways for HAT-P-1b.