Exoplanet Radio Transits as a Probe for Exoplanetary Magnetic Fields—Time-dependent MHD Simulations

Abstract

We perform a series of time-dependent magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the HD 189733 star–planet system in order to predict radio transit modulations due to the interaction between the stellar wind and planetary magnetic field. The simulation combines a model for the stellar corona and wind with an exoplanet that is orbiting the star in a fully dynamic, time-dependent manner. Our simulations generate synthetic radio images that enable us to obtain synthetic radio light curves in different frequencies. We find a clear evidence for the planetary motion in the radio light curves. Moreover, we find specific repeated features in the light curves that are attributed to the passage of the planetary magnetosphere in front of the star during transit. More importantly, we find a clear dependence in magnitude and phase of these light-curve features on the strength of the planetary magnetic field. Our work demonstrates that if radio transits could be observed, they could indeed provide information about the magnetic field strength of the transiting exoplanet. Future work to parameterize these light-curve features and their dependence on the planetary field strength would provide tools to search for these features in radio observation data sets. As we only consider the thermal radio emission from the host star for our study, very sensitive radio interferometers are necessary to detect these kinds of planetary transits in radio.