Influence of Photoelectrons on the Structure and Dynamics of the Upper Atmosphere of a Hot Jupiter

摘要

A self-consistent, aeronomic model of the upper atmosphere of a "hot Jupiter"including reactions involving suprathermal photoelectrons is presented. Thismodel is used to compute the height profiles of the gas density, velocity, andtemperature in the atmosphere of the exoplanet HD 209458b. It is shown thatincluding suprathermal electrons when computing the heating and coolingfunctions reduces the mass loss rate of the atmosphere by a factor of five.