Hot exoplanetary atmospheres in 3D

TL;DR

This review emphasizes the significance of 3D modeling for hot exoplanetary atmospheres, highlighting how it improves understanding of their extreme thermal, chemical, and wind dynamics, crucial for interpreting observational data.

Contribution

It underscores the necessity of 3D models over 1D assumptions for hot exoplanets and discusses how models must evolve to match advanced observational capabilities.

Findings

3D effects are critical for accurate atmospheric characterization.

Models must integrate thermal, chemical, and dynamical processes.

Synergy between models and observations enhances understanding of hot exoplanets.

Abstract

Hot giant exoplanets are very exotic objects with no equivalent in the Solar System that allow us to study the behavior of atmospheres under extreme conditions. Their thermal and chemical day--night dichotomies associated with extreme wind dynamics make them intrinsically 3D objects. Thus, the common 1D assumption, relevant to study colder atmospheres, reaches its limits in order to be able to explain hot and ultra-hot atmospheres and their evolution in a consistent way. In this review, we highlight the importance of these 3D considerations and how they impact transit, eclipse and phase curve observations. We also analyze how the models must adapt in order to remain self-consistent, consistent with the observations and sufficiently accurate to avoid bias or errors. We particularly insist on the synergy between models and observations in order to be able to carry out atmospheric characterizations with data from the new generation of instruments that are currently in operation or will be in the near future.