Abstract
When exoplanets pass in front of their stars, they imprint a transit signature on the stellar light curve which to date has been assumed to be symmetric in time, owing to the planet being modelled as a circular area occulting the stellar surface. However, this signature might be asymmetric due to different temperature/pressure and/or chemical compositions in the different terminator regions of the transiting planet. catwoman is a Python package that allows to model these asymmetric transit lightcurves, calculating lightcurves for any radially symmetric stellar limb darkening law, and where planets are modelled as two semi-circles, of different radii, using the integration algorithm developed in arXiv:1507.08285 and implemented in the batman library, from which catwoman builds upon.
Highlights
When exoplanets pass in front of their stars from our point of view on Earth, they imprint a transit signature on the stellar light curve which, to date, has been assumed to be symmetric in time, owing to the planet being modelled as a circular area occulting the stellar surface (Kreidberg, 2015; Luger et al, 2019; see, e.g., Mandel & Agol, 2002)
Catwoman is a Python package that models these asymmetric transit light curves, calculating light curves for any radially symmetric stellar limb darkening law and where planets are modelled as two semi-circles, of different radii, using the integration algorithm developed in (Kreidberg, 2015) and implemented in the batman library, from which catwoman builds upon
Catwoman first calculates many models, with varying widths and geometrically searches for a width that produces an error less than 1% away the specified level
Summary
Catwoman is a Python package that models these asymmetric transit light curves, calculating light curves for any radially symmetric stellar limb darkening law and where planets are modelled as two semi-circles, of different radii, using the integration algorithm developed in (Kreidberg, 2015) and implemented in the batman library, from which catwoman builds upon. When exoplanets pass in front of their stars from our point of view on Earth, they imprint a transit signature on the stellar light curve which, to date, has been assumed to be symmetric in time, owing to the planet being modelled as a circular area occulting the stellar surface (Kreidberg, 2015; Luger et al, 2019; see, e.g., Mandel & Agol, 2002). Being able to model these asymmetric signatures directly from transit light curves could give us an unprecedented glimpse into planetary 3-dimensional structure, helping constrain models of atmospheric evolution, structure and composition.
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