The Identification of CS2 and Evidence for Carbon-Sulfur Chemical Coupling in a Warm Giant Exoplanet Atmosphere

TL;DR

This study uses JWST transmission spectroscopy to detect sulfur-bearing molecules, including CS2, in a giant exoplanet's atmosphere, revealing evidence of carbon-sulfur chemical coupling and disequilibrium chemistry.

Contribution

First observational detection of CS2 in a giant exoplanet atmosphere, supporting models of carbon-sulfur chemical coupling in such environments.

Findings

Detected CS2 with a log abundance of -2.25

Found CS2 abundance higher than earlier predictions

Provided observational evidence for carbon-sulfur chemical coupling

Abstract

Transmission spectroscopy with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is revealing growing chemical complexity in giant exoplanet atmospheres. Of particular interest is sulfur, which had essentially no observational constraints before JWST. Recent work has shown that a planet's atmospheric sulfur content traces its refractory budget and is therefore a sensitive indicator of formation pathways. But despite the growing library of JWST data, the sulfur inventory of giant exoplanets remains poorly constrained: sulfur-bearing species are governed by disequilibrium chemistry and by kinetic networks that are still being revised. Here we present a transmission spectrum of the warm giant planet WASP-80 b obtained with JWST/NIRCam and MIRI over 2.4 $\mu$m--10$\mu$m in three transits. We find evidence for H$_2$O, CH$_4$, CO$_2$, NH$_3$, and CS$_2$ in the atmosphere and place upper limits on CO and SO$_2$. Our atmospheric retrievals yield $\log_{10}\mathrm{X}_{\mathrm{CS_2}} = -2.25^{+0.33}_{-0.32}$. This CS$_2$ abundance is substantially higher than predicted by earlier sulfur-chemistry schemes for H$_2$-rich atmospheres in WASP-80 b's temperature range, but is consistent with recent chemically validated networks that include efficient carbon-sulfur coupling through CH$_2$S. These results identify CS$_2$ as an observable tracer of sulfur disequilibrium chemistry and provide observational support for theoretically predicted carbon-sulfur chemical coupling in giant exoplanet atmospheres.