Search

Spin-orbit angle measurments (e.g., with the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect) are often degenerates. This is due to fundamental symetries in the problem, to complex correlations between parameters, and to the difficulty to measure some parameters (e.g., the stellar inclination). Recently, independent teams reported spin-orbit angle measurments of the same systems (e.g., KELT-9) using different instruments and methods. In particular, exoplanetary systems around rapidly rotating and pulsating early-type stars present different possibilities to measure their spin-orbit angles. For these systems, one can access the stellar inclination thanks to the independent detections and studies of stellar differential rotations, of stellar gravity darkening, and of stellar pulsations. In this presentation, we will show that these measurments don't necessary have the same symetries. Thus, it may be possible to break degenaracies in the spin-orbit angle measurment by combining precise photometric transit (that allow us to measure, e.g., gravity darkening) and precise spectroscopic transit measurments (that allow us to measure, e.g., differential rotation and pulsations). A tentative coherent explanation of recent data on the KELT-9 system will be presented as an example and as a motivation to develop new synergies in this domain.

Atmospheric escape rate is a key parameter to measure in order to understand the evolution of exoplanets. In this presentation, we will show that the Balmer series, observed with high-resolution transmission spectroscopy, is a precise probe to measure exoplanet evaporation, especially for ultra hot Jupiters orbiting early-type star. These hot gaseous giant exoplanets (such as KELT-9 b) are presumed to have an atmosphere dominated by neutral and ionized atomic species. In particular, hydrogen Balmer lines have been detected in some of their upper atmospheres, suggesting that hydrogen is filling the planetary Roche lobe and escaping from these planets. Here, we will present new significant absorptions of the Balmer series in the KELT-9b atmosphere obtained with HARPS-N. The precise line shapes of the Hα, Hβ, and Hγ absorptions allow us to put constraints on the thermospheric temperature. Moreover, the mass loss rate, and the excited hydrogen population of KELT-9 b are also constrained, thanks to a retrieval analysis performed with a new atmospheric model (the PAWN model). We retrieved a thermospheric temperature of T = 13 200+800-720 K and a mass loss rate of log10(MLR) = 10^(12.8+-0.3) g/s when the atmosphere was assumed to be in hydrodynamical expansion and in local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). Since the thermospheres of hot Jupiters are not expected to be in LTE, we explored atmospheric structures with non-Boltzmann equilibrium for the population of the excited hydrogen. We do not find strong statistical evidence in favor of a departure from LTE. However, our non-LTE scenario suggests that a departure from the Boltzmann equilibrium may not be sufficient to explain the retrieved low number densities of the excited hydrogen. In non-LTE, Saha equilibrium departure via photo-ionization, is also likely to be necessary to explain the data.