The effect of interior heat flux on the atmospheric circulation of hot and ultra-hot Jupiters

TL;DR

This study investigates how the internal heat flux of hot and ultra-hot Jupiters influences their atmospheric circulation and thermal structure, revealing significant local temperature and wind speed differences due to interior-atmosphere coupling.

Contribution

It introduces a combined modeling approach using evolutionary models and GCMs to assess the impact of interior heat flux on atmospheric dynamics of hot Jupiters, highlighting their coupled nature.

Findings

Temperature differences of up to hundreds of Kelvin due to interior heat flux.

Wind speed variations of hundreds of m/s across the atmosphere.

Dependence of atmospheric differences on surface gravity and photosphere pressure.

Abstract

Many hot and ultra-hot Jupiters have inflated radii, implying that their interiors retain significant entropy from formation. These hot interiors lead to an enhanced internal heat flux that impinges upon the atmosphere from below. In this work, we study the effect of this hot interior on the atmospheric circulation and thermal structure of hot and ultra-hot Jupiters. To do so, we incorporate the population-level predictions from evolutionary models of hot and ultra-hot Jupiters as input for a suite of General Circulation Models (GCMs) of their atmospheric circulation with varying semi-major axis and surface gravity. We conduct simulations with and without a hot interior, and find that there are significant local differences in temperature of up to hundreds of Kelvin and in wind speeds of hundreds of m s$^{-1}$ or more across the observable atmosphere. These differences persist throughout the parameter regime studied, and are dependent on surface gravity through the impact on photosphere pressure. These results imply that the internal evolution and atmospheric thermal structure and dynamics of hot and ultra-hot Jupiters are coupled. As a result, a joint approach including both evolutionary models and GCMs may be required to make robust predictions for the atmospheric circulation of hot and ultra-hot Jupiters.