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Abstract AF Lep A+b is a remarkable planetary system hosting a gas-giant planet that has the lowest dynamical mass among directly imaged exoplanets. We present an in-depth analysis of the atmospheric composition of the star and planet to probe the planet’s formation pathway. Based on new high-resolution spectroscopy of AF Lep A, we measure a uniform set of stellar parameters and elemental abundances (e.g., [Fe/H] = −0.27 ± 0.31 dex). The planet’s dynamical mass ( ${2.8}_{-0.5}^{+0.6}$M_Jup) and orbit are also refined using published radial velocities, relative astrometry, and absolute astrometry. We usepetitRADTRANSto perform chemically consistent atmospheric retrievals for AF Lep b. The radiative–convective equilibrium temperature profiles are incorporated as parameterized priors on the planet’s thermal structure, leading to a robust characterization for cloudy self-luminous atmospheres. This novel approach is enabled by constraining the temperature–pressure profiles via the temperature gradient $\left(d\ln T/d\ln P\right)$, a departure from previous studies that solely modeled the temperature. Through multiple retrievals performed on different portions of the 0.9–4.2μm spectrophotometry, along with different priors on the planet’s mass and radius, we infer that AF Lep b likely possesses a metal-enriched atmosphere ([Fe/H] > 1.0 dex). AF Lep b’s potential metal enrichment may be due to planetesimal accretion, giant impacts, and/or core erosion. The first process coincides with the debris disk in the system, which could be dynamically excited by AF Lep b and lead to planetesimal bombardment. Our analysis also determinesT_eff≈ 800 K, $\log \left(g\right)\approx 3.7$dex, and the presence of silicate clouds and disequilibrium chemistry in the atmosphere. Straddling the L/T transition, AF Lep b is thus far the coldest exoplanet with suggested evidence of silicate clouds. 

ABSTRACT At the lowest masses, the distinction between brown dwarfs and giant exoplanets is often blurred and literature classifications rarely reflect the deuterium burning boundary. Atmospheric characterization may reveal the extent to which planetary formation pathways contribute to the population of very low mass brown dwarfs, by revealing whether their abundance distributions differ from those of the local field population or, in the case of companions, their primary stars. The T8 dwarf Ross 458c is a possible planetary-mass companion to a pair of M dwarfs, and previous work suggests that it is cloudy. We here present the results of the retrieval analysis of Ross 458c, using archival spectroscopic data in the 1.0–2.4 µm range. We test a cloud-free model as well as a variety of cloudy models and find that the atmosphere of Ross 458c is best described by a cloudy model (strongly preferred). The CH4/H2O is higher than expected at $$1.97^{+0.13}_{-0.14}$$. This value is challenging to understand in terms of equilibrium chemistry and plausible carbon-to-oxygen (C/O) ratios. Comparisons to thermochemical grid models suggest a C/O of ≈1.35, if CH4 and H2O are quenched at 2000 K, requiring vigorous mixing. We find a [C/H] ratio of +0.18, which matches the metallicity of the primary system, suggesting that oxygen is missing from the atmosphere. Even with extreme mixing, the implied C/O is well beyond the typical stellar regime, suggesting either a non-stellar formation pathway or the sequestration of substantial quantities of oxygen via hitherto unmodelled chemistry or condensation processes. 

Abstract The detection of disk-integrated polarization from Luhman 16 A and B in the H band, and subsequent modeling, has been interpreted in the framework of zonal cloud bands on these bodies. Recently, Tan and Showman investigated the 3D atmospheric circulation and cloud structures of brown dwarfs with general circulation models (GCMs), and their simulations yielded complex cloud distributions showing some aspects of zonal jets, but also complex vortices that cannot be captured by a simple model. Here we use these 3D GCMs specific to Luhman 16 A and B, along with the 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer code ARTES, to calculate their polarization signals. We adopt the 3D temperature–pressure and cloud profiles from the GCMs as our input atmospheric structures. Our polarization calculations at 1.6 μ m agree well with the measured degree of linear polarization from both Luhman 16 A and B. Our calculations reproduce the measured polarization for both objects with cloud particle sizes between 0.5 and 1 μ m for Luhman 16 A and of 5 μ m for Luhman 16 B. We find that the degree of linear polarization can vary on hour-long timescales over the course of a rotation period. We also show that models with azimuthally symmetric band-like cloud geometries, typically used for interpreting polarimetry observations of brown dwarfs, overpredict the polarization signal if the cloud patterns do not include complex vortices within these bands. This exploratory work shows that GCMs are promising for modeling and interpreting polarization signals of brown dwarfs. 

ABSTRACT We present the most detailed data-driven exploration of cloud opacity in a substellar object to-date. We have tested over 60 combinations of cloud composition and structure, particle-size distribution, scattering model, and gas phase composition assumptions against archival 1–15 μm spectroscopy for the unusually red L4.5 dwarf 2MASSW J2224438-015852 using the Brewster retrieval framework. We find that, within our framework, a model that includes enstatite and quartz cloud layers at shallow pressures, combined with a deep iron cloud deck fits the data best. This model assumes a Hansen distribution for particle sizes for each cloud, and Mie scattering. We retrieved particle effective radii of $$\log _{10} a {\rm (\mu m)} = -1.41^{+0.18}_{-0.17}$$ for enstatite, $$-0.44^{+0.04}_{-0.20}$$ for quartz, and $$-0.77^{+0.05}_{-0.06}$$ for iron. Our inferred cloud column densities suggest $${\rm (Mg/Si)} = 0.69^{+0.06}_{-0.08}$$ if there are no other sinks for magnesium or silicon. Models that include forsterite alongside, or in place of, these cloud species are strongly rejected in favour of the above combination. We estimate a radius of 0.75 ± 0.02 RJup, which is considerably smaller than predicted by evolutionary models for a field age object with the luminosity of 2M2224-0158. Models which assume vertically constant gas fractions are consistently preferred over models that assume thermochemical equilibrium. From our retrieved gas fractions, we infer $${\rm [M/H]} = +0.38^{+0.07}_{-0.06}$$ and $${\rm C/O} = 0.83^{+0.06}_{-0.07}$$. Both these values are towards the upper end of the stellar distribution in the Solar neighbourhood, and are mutually consistent in this context. A composition towards the extremes of the local distribution is consistent with this target being an outlier in the ultracool dwarf population.