The Unrealised Interdisciplinary Advantage of Observing High Mass Transiting Exoplanets and Brown Dwarfs -- Strategic Exoplanet Initiatives with HST and JWST White Paper

TL;DR

This paper emphasizes the importance of prioritizing atmospheric observations of high mass transiting exoplanets and brown dwarfs using JWST and HST, highlighting their unique role in understanding planetary atmospheres and formation.

Contribution

It advocates for increased observational focus on high mass transiting exoplanets and brown dwarfs to leverage JWST's capabilities for comparative atmospheric studies.

Findings

Few existing observations of high mass transiting exoplanets.

Potential to understand irradiation effects on high gravity atmospheres.

Opportunity to study planetary formation and evolution across mass regimes.

Abstract

We advocate for further prioritisation of atmospheric characterisation observations of high mass transiting exoplanets and brown dwarfs. This population acts as a unique comparative sample to the directly imaged exoplanet and brown dwarf populations, of which a range of JWST characterisation observations are planned. In contrast, only two observations of transiting exoplanets in this mass regime were performed in Cycle 1, and none are planned for Cycle 2. Such observations will: improve our understanding of how irradiation influences high gravity atmospheres, provide insights towards planetary formation and evolution across this mass regime, and exploit JWST's unique potential to characterise exoplanets across the known population.