Deep high-resolution L band spectroscopy in the $\beta$ Pictoris planetary system

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution LM band spectroscopy to confirm water absorption in beta Pictoris b's atmosphere, accurately measure its rotation, and explore atmospheric features of its planetary system, highlighting the importance of spectral coverage.

Contribution

Developed advanced methods for high-contrast spectroscopy and demonstrated the effectiveness of combining spectral settings over multiple epochs for exoplanet atmospheric analysis.

Findings

Confirmed water absorption in beta Pic b with high precision

Measured beta Pic b's rotational velocity as 20.36 +/- 0.31 km/s

Found that combining spectral coverage enhances S/N more than multiple observations of the same setting

Abstract

The beta Pictoris system, with its two directly imaged planets beta Pic b and beta Pic c and its well characterised debris disk, is a prime target for detailed characterisation of young planetary systems. Here, we present high-resolution and high-contrast LM band spectroscopy with CRIRES+ of the system, primarily for the purpose of atmospheric characterisation of beta Pic b. We developed methods for determining slit geometry and wavelength calibration based on telluric absorption and emission lines, as well as methods for PSF modelling and subtraction, and artificial planet injection, in order to extract and characterise planet spectra at a high S/N and spectral fidelity. Through cross-correlation with model spectra, we detected H2O absorption for planet b in each of the 13 individual observations spanning four different spectral settings. This provides a clear confirmation of previously detected water absorption, and allowed us to derive an exquisite precision on the rotational velocity of beta Pic b, v_rot = 20.36 +/- 0.31 km/s, which is consistent within error bars with previous determinations. We also observed a tentative H2O cross-correlation peak at the expected position and velocity of planet c; the feature is however not at a statistically significant level. Despite a higher sensitivity to SiO than earlier studies, we do not confirm a tentative SiO feature previously reported for planet b. When combining data from different epochs and different observing modes for the strong H2O feature of planet b, we find that the S/N grows considerably faster when sets of different spectral settings are combined, compared to when multiple data sets of the same spectral setting are combined. This implies that maximising spectral coverage is often more important than maximising integration depth when investigating exoplanetary atmospheres using cross-correlation techniques.