PEPSI Investigation, Retrieval, and Atlas of Numerous Giant Atmospheres (PIRANGA). IV. High-Resolution Phased-Resolved Spectroscopy of The Ultra Hot Jupiter KELT-20 b

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution spectroscopy to analyze the atmospheric composition and thermal structure of the ultra-hot Jupiter KELT-20 b, revealing phase-dependent abundance variations and temperature differences between its day and night sides.

Contribution

First measurements of Ni and Ca emission in KELT-20 b, with a detailed phase-resolved analysis of its atmospheric abundances and thermal structure using Bayesian retrievals.

Findings

Ni/Fe ratio consistent with solar within 2-sigma

Ca/Fe ratio is 0.001-0.01x solar, not accounting for ionization

Temperature difference of ~100 K between evening and morning sides

Abstract

We present five datasets of high-resolution optical emission spectra of the ultra-hot Jupiter KELT-20 b with the PEPSI spectrograph. Using a Bayesian retrieval framework, we constrain its dayside pressure-temperature profile and abundances of Fe, Ni, and Ca, providing the first measurements for Ni and Ca for KELT-20 b in emission. We retrieve the pre- and post-eclipse datasets separately (corresponding to the evening and morning sides, respectively), and compare the constraints on their thermal structures and chemical abundances. We constrain lower abundances in the pre-eclipse datasets compared to the post-eclipse datasets. We interpret these results with an equilibrium chemistry model which suggests ~10-30x supersolar refractory abundances. Due to the well-known degeneracy between absolute abundances and continuum opacities, the abundance ratios are more precise probes of the planetary abundances. Therefore we measure the abundance ratios [Ni/Fe] and [Ca/Fe] across these datasets and find they agree within 1-sigma. We constrain [Ni/Fe] to be consistent with solar within 2-sigma, and [Ca/Fe] to be 0.001-0.01x solar, not accounting for ionization. We compare these abundance ratios with literature results for KELT-20 b in transmission, and find they agree within 2-sigma, suggesting that even though the abundances vary significantly as a function of phase, the abundance ratios of these species remain relatively constant. We find a ~100 K difference in temperature at the top of the thermal inversion, suggesting a hotter evening side than morning side and underscoring the importance of considering 3D effects when studying ultra-hot Jupiters.