Impact of Water-latent Heat on the Thermal Structure of Ultra-cool Objects: Brown Dwarfs and Free-floating Planets

Shih Yun Tang, Tyler D. Robinson, Mark S. Marley, Natasha E. Batalha, Roxana Lupu, L. Prato

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Brown dwarfs are essential targets for understanding planetary and sub-stellar atmospheres across a wide range of thermal and chemical conditions. As surveys continue to probe ever deeper and as observing capabilities continue to improve, the number of known Y dwarfs - the coldest class of sub-stellar objects, with effective temperatures below about 600 K - is rapidly growing. Critically, this class of ultra-cool objects has atmospheric conditions that overlap with solar-system worlds and, as a result, tools and ideas developed from studying Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, and other nearby worlds are well suited for application to sub-stellar atmospheres. To that end, we developed a one-dimensional (vertical) atmospheric structure model for ultra-cool objects that includes moist adiabatic convection, as this is an important process for many solar-system planets. Application of this model across a range of effective temperatures (350, 300, 250, 200 K), metallicities ([M/H] of 0.0, 0.5, 0.7, 1.5), and gravities (log g of 4.0, 4.5, 4.7, 5.0) demonstrates strong impact of water-latent heat release on simulated temperature-pressure profiles. At the highest metallicities, water-vapor mixing ratios reach an Earth-like 3% with associated major alterations to the thermal structure in the atmospheric regions where water condenses. Spectroscopic and photometric signatures of metallicity and moist convection should be readily detectable at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths, especially with James Webb Space Telescope observations, and can help indicate the formation history of an object.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number26
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume922
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 20 2021

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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