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arxiv: 2406.04450 · v1 · pith:XD4XNDSPnew · submitted 2024-06-06 · 🌌 astro-ph.EP

Sulfur Dioxide and Other Molecular Species in the Atmosphere of the Sub-Neptune GJ 3470 b

classification 🌌 astro-ph.EP
keywords dioxidesulfurcarbonexoplanetobservationswaterabundancesarchival
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We report observations of the atmospheric transmission spectrum of the sub-Neptune exoplanet GJ 3470 b taken using the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on JWST. Combined with two archival HST/WFC3 transit observations and fifteen archival Spitzer transit observations, we detect water, methane, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of GJ 3470 b, each with a significance of >3-sigma. GJ 3470 b is the lowest mass -- and coldest -- exoplanet known to show a substantial sulfur dioxide feature in its spectrum, at $M_{p}$=11.2${\,{\rm M}_{\oplus}}$ and $T_{eq}$=600$\,$K. This indicates disequilibrium photochemistry drives sulfur dioxide production in exoplanet atmospheres over a wider range of masses and temperatures than has been reported or expected. The water, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide abundances we measure indicate an atmospheric metallicity of approximately $100\times$ Solar. We see further evidence for disequilibrium chemistry in our inferred methane abundance, which is significantly lower than expected from equilibrium models consistent with our measured water and carbon dioxide abundances.

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Cited by 2 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

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  2. The Identification of CS2 and Evidence for Carbon-Sulfur Chemical Coupling in a Warm Giant Exoplanet Atmosphere

    astro-ph.EP 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    JWST transmission spectrum of WASP-80 b yields log10 X_CS2 = -2.25 with evidence for carbon-sulfur chemical coupling via CH2S networks.