Analysis of the planetary mass uncertainties on the accuracy of atmospherical retrieval

Abstract

Context. Characterising the properties of exoplanet atmospheres relies on several interconnected parameters, which makes it difficult to determine them independently. Planetary mass plays a role in determining the scale height of atmospheres, similarly to the contribution from the average molecular weight of the gas. Analogously, the clouds masking the real atmospheric scale height make it difficult to correctly derive the atmospheric properties. Aims. We investigate the relevance of planetary mass knowledge in spectral retrievals, identifying cases where mass measurements are needed for clear or cloudy and primary or secondary atmospheres, along with the relevant precision, in the context of the ESA M4 Ariel Mission. Methods. We used TauREx to simulate the Ariel transmission spectra of representative targets of the Ariel mission reference sample, assuming different scenarios: a primordial cloudy atmosphere of a hot Jupiter and a hot Neptune, as well as the secondary atmosphere of a super-Earth that also exhibits a cloud presence. We extracted information on the various properties of the atmospheres for the cases of unknown mass or mass with different uncertainties. We also tested how the signal-to-noise ratio impacts atmospheric retrieval for different wavelength ranges. Results. We accurately retrieved the primordial atmospheric composition independently from mass uncertainties for clear atmospheres, while we found that the uncertainties increased for high altitude clouds. We highlight the importance of the signal-to-noise ratio in the Rayleigh scattering region of the spectrum, which is crucial to retrieving the cloud pressure and to accurately retrieving all other relevant parameters. For the secondary atmosphere cases, a mass uncertainty no larger than 50% is sufficient to retrieve the atmospheric parameters, even in the presence of clouds. Conclusions. Our analysis suggests that even in the worst-case scenario, a 50% mass precision level is enough for producing reliable retrievals, while an atmospheric retrieval without any knowledge of a planetary mass could lead to biases in cloudy primary atmospheres as well as in secondary atmospheres.