Constraining planetary mass-loss rates by simulating Parker wind profiles with Cloudy

Abstract

Models of exoplanet atmospheres based on Parker wind density and velocity profiles are a common choice in fitting spectroscopic observations tracing planetary atmospheric escape. Inferring atmospheric properties using these models often results in a degeneracy between the temperature and the mass-loss rate, and thus provides weak constraints on either parameter. We present a framework that can partially resolve this degeneracy by placing more stringent constraints on the expected thermospheric temperature. We use the photoionization code Cloudy within an iterative scheme to compute the temperature structure of a grid of 1D Parker wind models, including the effects of radiative heating/cooling, as well as the hydrodynamic effects (expansion cooling and heat advection). We constrain the parameter space by identifying models that are not self-consistent through a comparison of the simulated temperature in the He 10 830 Å line-forming region to the temperature assumed in creating the models. We demonstrate this procedure on models based on HD 209458 b. By investigating the Parker wind models with an assumed temperature between 4000 and 12 000 K, and a mass-loss rate between 108 and 1011 g s−1, we are able to rule out a large portion of this parameter space. Furthermore, we fit the models to previous observational data and combine both constraints to find a preferred thermospheric temperature of T = 8200 −1100+1200 K and a mass-loss rate of Ṁ = 10 9.84 −0.27+0.24 g s−1 assuming a fixed atmospheric composition and no gas pressure confinement by the stellar wind. Using the same procedure, we constrain the temperatures and mass-loss rates of WASP-69 b, WASP-52 b, HAT-P-11 b, HAT-P-18 b and WASP-107 b.