Jovian-type planets around M dwarfs with MIRI/JWST

DOI

The upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will dramatically increase our understanding of exoplanets, particularly through direct imaging. Microlensing and radial velocity surveys indicate that some M dwarfs host long-period giant planets. Some of these planets will likely be just a few parsecs away and a few astronomical units from their host stars, a parameter space that cannot be probed by existing high-contrast imagers. We studied whether the coronagraphs on the Mid-infrared Instrument on JWST can detect Jovian-type planets around nearby M dwarfs. For a sample of 27 very nearby M dwarfs, we simulated a sample of Saturn-Jupiter-mass planets with three atmospheric configurations and three orbital separations, observed in three different filters. We found that the f1550c 15.5 {mu}m filter is best suited for detecting Jupiter-like planets. Jupiter-like planets with patchy cloud cover, 2 au from their star, are detectable at 15.5 {mu}m around 14 stars in our sample, while Jupiters with clearer atmospheres are detectable around all stars in the sample. Saturns were most detectable at 10.65 and 11.4 {mu}m (f1065c and f1140c filters), but only with cloud-free atmospheres and within 3 pc (six stars). Surveying all 27 stars would take <170 hr of JWST integration time, or just a few hours for a shorter survey of the most favorable targets. There is one potentially detectable known planet in our sample: GJ 832 b. Observations aimed at detecting this planet should occur in 2024-2026, when the planet is maximally separated from the star.

Cone search capability for table J/AJ/159/18/table2 (Stellar targets used as simulated exoplanet hosts)

Identifier
DOI http://doi.org/10.26093/cds/vizier.51590018
Source https://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/lp/custom/CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/159/18
Related Identifier https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/AJ/159/18
Related Identifier http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/AJ/159/18
Metadata Access http://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/pmh/pubreg.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_b2find&identifier=ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/159/18
Provenance
Creator Brande J.; Barclay T.; Schlieder J.E.; Lopez E.D.; Quintana E.V.
Publisher CDS
Publication Year 2020
Rights https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.html
OpenAccess true
Contact CDS support team <cds-question(at)unistra.fr>
Representation
Resource Type Dataset; AstroObjects
Discipline Astrophysics and Astronomy; Cosmology; Exoplanet Astronomy; Natural Sciences; Observational Astronomy; Physics; Stellar Astronomy