Evidence of Radius Inflation in Radiative GCM Models of WASP-76b due to the Advection of Potential Temperature

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that vertical advection of potential temperature in 3D GCM models can account for the observed radius inflation of hot Jupiter WASP-76b, highlighting a key mechanism behind planetary radius discrepancies.

Contribution

It provides detailed analysis showing that vertical enthalpy transport in GCM models can explain radius inflation, a novel insight into hot Jupiter atmospheric dynamics.

Findings

Vertical enthalpy transport heats deep atmosphere significantly.

Model radius matches observed values within uncertainties.

Vertical advection alone can explain radius inflation.

Abstract

Understanding the discrepancy between the radii of observed hot Jupiters and standard 'radiative-convective' models remains a hotly debated topic in the exoplanet community. One mechanism which has been proposed to bridge this gap, and which has recently come under scrutiny, is the vertical advection of potential temperature from the irradiated outer atmosphere deep into the interior, heating the deep, unirradiated, atmosphere, warming the internal adiabat, and resulting in radius inflation. Specifically, a recent study which explored the atmosphere of WASP-76b using a 3D, non-grey, GCM suggested that their models lacked radius inflation, and hence any vertical enthalpy advection. Here we perform additional analysis of these, and related, models, focusing on an explicit analysis of vertical enthalpy transport and the resulting heating of the deep atmosphere compared with 1D models. Our results indicate that, after any evolution linked with initialisation, all the WASP-76b models considered here exhibit significant vertical enthalpy transport, heating the deep atmosphere significantly when compared with standard 1D models. Furthermore, comparison of a long time-scale (and hence near steady-state) model with a Jupiter-like internal-structure model suggests not only strong radius-inflation, but also that the model radius, $1.98 \mathrm{R_{J}}$, may be comparable with observations ($1.83\pm0.06 \mathrm{R_{J}}$). We thus conclude that the vertical advection of potential temperature alone is enough to explain the radius inflation of WASP-76b, and potentially other irradiated gas giants, albeit with the proviso that the exact strength of the vertical advection remains sensitive to model parameters, such as the inclusion of deep atmospheric drag.