Modeling H$\alpha$ and He 10830 transmission spectrum of WASP-52b

TL;DR

This study models the Hα and He 10830 transmission spectra of exoplanet WASP-52b using advanced simulations to constrain atmospheric composition, escape processes, and stellar radiation influences.

Contribution

It introduces a combined hydrodynamic, non-LTE, and Monte Carlo radiative transfer approach to simultaneously model Hα and He 10830 lines in exoplanet atmospheres.

Findings

Models with varying H/He ratios can fit Hα observations under different stellar XUV flux conditions.

A high H/He ratio (~98/2) is needed to match He 10830 triplet observations.

Estimated atmospheric mass-loss rate is approximately 2.8×10^11 g/s.

Abstract

Escaping atmosphere has been detected by the excess absorption of Ly$\alpha$, H$\alpha$ and He triplet (10830$\rm\AA$) lines. Simultaneously modeling the absorption of the H$\alpha$ and He 10830 lines can provide useful constraints about the exoplanetary atmosphere. In this paper, we use a hydrodynamic model combined with a non-local thermodynamic model and a new Monte Carlo simulation model to obtain the H(2) and He(2$^3$S) populations. The Monte Carlo simulations of Ly$\alpha$ radiative transfer are performed with assumptions of a spherical stellar Ly$\alpha$ radiation and a spherical planetary atmosphere, for the first time, to calculate the Ly$\alpha$ mean intensity distribution inside the planetary atmosphere, necessary in estimating the H(2) population. We model the transmission spectra of the H$\alpha$ and He 10830 lines simultaneously in hot Jupiter WASP-52b. We find that models with many different H/He ratios can reproduce the H$\alpha$ observations well if the host star has (1) a high X-ray/extreme ultraviolet (XUV) flux ($F_{\rm XUV}$) and a relatively low X-ray fraction in XUV radiation ($\beta_m$), or (2) a low $F_{\rm XUV}$ and a high $\beta_m$. The simulations of He 10830 $\rm\AA$ triplet suggest that a high H/He ratio ($\sim$ 98/2) is required to fit the observation. The models that fit both lines well confine $F_{\rm XUV}$ to be about 0.5 times the fiducial value and $\beta_m$ to have a value around 0.3. The models also suggest that hydrogen and helium originate from the escaping atmosphere, and the mass-loss rate is about 2.8$\times 10^{11}$ g s$^{-1}$.