Constraining physics of very hot super-Earths with the James Webb Telescope. The case of Corot-7b

Super-Earths with solid surfaces such CoRot-7b and Kepler-10b are expected to be extremely hot. It has been suggested that they must be atmosphere-free and that a lava ocean is present on their hot dayside. Here, we use several dedicated thermal models to study how observations with NIRSPEC on the JWST could further confirm and constrain, or reject the atmosphere-free lava ocean planet model for very hot super-Earths. Using CoRoT-7b as a working case, we explore the consequences on the phase-curve of a non tidal-locked rotation, with/without an atmosphere, and for different values of the albedo. We simulate future observations of the reflected light and thermal emission from CoRoT-7b with NIRSPEC-JWST and look for detectable signatures, such as time lag, as well as the possibility to retrieve the latitudinal surface temperature distribution. We demonstrate that we should be able to constrain several parameters after observations of two orbits (42 h) with a broad range of wavelengths: i)The Bond albedo is retrieved to within +/- 0.03 in most cases. ii) The lag effect allows us to retrieve the rotation period within 3 hours for a planet, with rotation half the orbital period. iii) Any spin period shorter than a limit in the range 30 - 800 h, depending on the thickness of the thermal layer in the soil, would be detected. iv) The presence of a thick gray atmosphere with a pressure of one bar, and a specific opacity higher than 1.0E-5 m-2 kg-1 is detectable. v) With spectra up to 4.5 mu, the latitudinal temperature profile can be retrieved to within 30 K with a risk of a totally wrong solution in 5 % of the cases. We conclude that it should thus be possible to distinguish the reference situation from other cases. Surface temperature map and the albedo brings important constraints on the nature or the physical state of the soil of hot super-Earths.

Transiting exoplanets from the CoRoT space mission - XIX. CoRoT-23b: a dense hot Jupiter on an eccentric orbit

We report the detection of CoRoT-23b, a hot Jupiter transiting in front of its host star with a period of 3.6314 pm 0.0001 days. This planet was discovered thanks to photometric data secured with the CoRoT satellite, combined with spectroscopic radial velocity (RV) measurements. A photometric search for possible background eclipsing binaries conducted at CFHT and OGS concluded with a very low risk of false positives. The usual techniques of combining RV and transit data simultaneously were used to derive stellar and planetary parameters. The planet has a mass of Mp = 2.8 pm 0.3 MJup, a radius of Rpl = 1.05 pm 0.13 RJup, a density of approx 3 g cm-3. RV data also clearly reveal a non zero eccentricity of e = 0.16 pm 0.02. The planet orbits a mature G0 main sequence star of V =15.5 mag, with a mass Mstar = 1.14 pm 0.08 Modot, a radius Rstar = 1. 61 pm 0.18 Rodot and quasi-solar abundances. The age of the system is evaluated to be 7 Gyr, not far from the transition to subgiant, in agreement with the rather large stellar radius. The two features of a significant eccentricity of the orbit and of a fairly high density are fairly uncommon for a hot Jupiter. The high density is, however, consistent with a model of contraction of a planet at this mass, given the age of the system. On the other hand, at such an age, circularization is expected to be completed. In fact, we show that for this planetary mass and orbital distance, any initial eccentricity should not totally vanish after 7 Gyr, as long as the tidal quality factor Qp is more than a few 105, a value that is the lower bound of the usually expected range. Even if Corot-23b features a density and an eccentricity that are atypical of a hot Jupiter, it is thus not an enigmatic object.

The orbital phases and secondary transit of Kepler-10b - A physical interpretation based on the Lava-ocean planet model -

The Kepler mission has made an important observation, the first detection of photons from a terrestrial planet by observing its phase curve (Kepler-10b). This opens a new field in exoplanet science: the possibility to get information about the atmosphere and surface of rocky planets, objects of prime interest. In this letter, we apply the Lava-ocean model to interpret the observed phase curve. The model, a planet with no atmosphere and a surface partially made of molten rocks, has been proposed for planets of the class of CoRoT-7b, i.e. rocky planets very close to their star (at few stellar radii). Kepler-10b is a typical member of this family. It predicts that the light from the planet has an important emission component in addition to the reflected one, even in the Kepler spectral band. Assuming an isotropical reflection of light by the planetary surface (Lambertian-like approximation), we find that a Bond albedo of sim50% can account for the observed amplitude of the phase curve, as opposed to a first attempt where an unusually high value was found. We propose a physical process to explain this still large value of the albedo. The overall interpretation can be tested in the future with instruments as JWST or EChO. Our model predicts a spectral dependence that is clearly distinguishable from that of purely reflected light, and from that of a planet at a uniform temperature.