Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-wpx69 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-24T02:11:28.919Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Atmospheric Circulation of Hot Jupiters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2016

Tristan Guillot*
Affiliation:
Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Laboratoire Cassini, CNRS UMR 6529, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France; guillot@obs-nice.fr

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

About 40% of the extrasolar giant planets discovered so far have orbital distances smaller than 0.2 AU. These “hot Jupiters” are expected to be in synchronous rotation with their star. The ability to measure their radii prompts a careful reexamination of their structure. I show that their atmospheric structure is complex and that thermal balance cannot be achieved through radiation only but must involve heat advection by large-scale circulation. A circulation model inspired from Venus is proposed, involving a relatively strong zonal wind (with a period that can be as short as 1 day). It is shown that even this strong wind is incapable of efficiently redistributing heat from the day side to the night side. Temperature variations of 200 K or more are to be expected, even at pressures as large as 10 bar. As a consequence, clouds should be absent on the day side, allowing more efficient absorption of the stellar light. The global chemical composition of the atmosphere should also be greatly affected by the presence of large temperature variations. Finally, stellar tides may also be important in their ability to deposit heat at levels untouched by stellar radiation, thereby slowing further the cooling of the planets.

Type
Part III: Structure and atmospheres of planets
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2004 

References

Burrows, A., Marley, M.S., Hubbard, W.B., et al. 1997, ApJ, 491, 856.Google Scholar
Burrows, A., Guillot, T., Hubbard, W.B. et al. 2000, ApJ, 534, L97.Google Scholar
Cameron, A.C., Horne, K., Penny, A., & James, D. 1999, Nature, 402, 751.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charbonneau, D., Brown, T.M., Latham, D.W., & Mayor, M. 2000, ApJ, 529, L45.Google Scholar
Del Genio, A.D., & Rossow, W.B. 1990, J. Atmos. Sci., 47, 293.Google Scholar
Del Genio, A.D., Zhou, W., & Eichler, T.P. 1993, Icarus, 101, 1.Google Scholar
Fegley, B. Jr., & Lodders, K. 1996, ApJ, 472, L37.Google Scholar
Goukenleuque, C., Bézard, B., Joguet, B., Lellouch, E., & Freedman, R. 2000, Icarus, 143, 308.Google Scholar
Gierasch, P. 1975, J. Atmos. Sci., 32, 1038.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guillot, T. 1999, Science, 286, 72.Google Scholar
Guillot, T., Burrows, A., Hubbard, W.B., Lunine, J.I., & Saumon, D. 1996, ApJ, 459, L35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guillot, T., Marley, M.S., Saumon, D., & Freedman, R.S. 1997, in: Infrared Space Interferometry: Astrophysics & the Study of Earth-like Planets, eds. Eiroa, C. et al., Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 37.Google Scholar
Henry, G.W., Marcy, G.W., Butler, R.P., & Vogt, S.S. 2000, ApJ, 529, L41.Google Scholar
Ingersoll, A.P., Barnet, CD., Beebe, R.F. et al. 1995, in: Neptune and Triton, ed. Cruikshank, D.P., University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 613.Google Scholar
Lin, D. N. C., Bodenheimer, P., & Richardson, D. 1996, Nature, 380, 606.Google Scholar
Maeder, A., 1995, A&A, 299, 84.Google Scholar
Marley, M.S., Saumon, D., Guillot, T., et al. 1996, Science, 272, 1919.Google Scholar
Marley, M.S., Gelino, C., Stephens, D., Lunine, J.I., & Freedman, R. 1999, ApJ, 513, 879.Google Scholar
Mayor, M., & Queloz, D. 1995, Nature, 378, 355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazeh, T., Naef, D., & Torres, G. et al. 2000, ApJ, 531, in press.Google Scholar
Newman, M., & Leovy, C. 1992, Science, 257, 647.Google Scholar
Peale, S.J., & Cassen, P. 1978, Icarus, 36, 245.Google Scholar
Pechmann, J.B., & Ingersoll, A.P. 1984, J. Atmos. Sci., 41, 3290.Google Scholar
Pollack, J.B., & Young, R. 1975, J. Atmos. Sci., 32, 1025.Google Scholar
Rossow, W.B. 1978, Icarus, 36, 1.Google Scholar
Rossow, W.P., & Williams, G.P. 1979, J. Atmos. Sci., 36, 377.Google Scholar
Schubert, G. 1983, in: Venus, eds. Hunten, D.M. et al., University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 681.Google Scholar
Seager, S., & Sasselov, D.D. 1998, ApJ, 502, L157.Google Scholar
Seiff, A. 1983, in: Venus, eds. Hunten, D.M. et al., University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 215.Google Scholar
Sudarksy, D., Burrows, A., & Pinto, P. 2000, ApJ, 538, 885.Google Scholar
Taylor, F.W., Hunten, D.M., & Ksanfomaliti, L.V. 1983, in: Venus, eds. Hunten, D.M. et al., University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 650.Google Scholar
Zahn, J.-P. 1992, A&A, 265, 115.Google Scholar