| 1. |
- Barrado, David, et al.
(författare)
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15NH3 in the atmosphere of a cool brown dwarf
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 624:7991, s. 263-266
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Brown dwarfs serve as ideal laboratories for studying the atmospheres of giant exoplanets on wide orbits, as the governing physical and chemical processes within them are nearly identical. Understanding the formation of gas-giant planets is challenging, often involving the endeavour to link atmospheric abundance ratios, such as the carbon-to-oxygen (C/O) ratio, to formation scenarios. However, the complexity of planet formation requires further tracers, as the unambiguous interpretation of the measured C/O ratio is fraught with complexity. Isotope ratios, such as deuterium to hydrogen and 14N/15N, offer a promising avenue to gain further insight into this formation process, mirroring their use within the Solar System. For exoplanets, only a handful of constraints on 12C/13C exist, pointing to the accretion of 13C-rich ice from beyond the CO iceline of the disks. Here we report on the mid-infrared detection of the 14NH3 and 15NH3 isotopologues in the atmosphere of a cool brown dwarf with an effective temperature of 380 K in a spectrum taken with the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) of JWST. As expected, our results reveal a 14N/15N value consistent with star-like formation by gravitational collapse, demonstrating that this ratio can be accurately constrained. Because young stars and their planets should be more strongly enriched in the 15N isotope, we expect that 15NH3 will be detectable in several cold, wide-separation exoplanets.
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| 2. |
- Dyrek, Achrène, et al.
(författare)
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SO2, silicate clouds, but no CH4 detected in a warm Neptune
- 2024
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Ingår i: Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 625, s. 51-54
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- WASP-107b is a warm (approximately 740 K) transiting planet with a Neptune-like mass of roughly 30.5 M⊕ and Jupiter-like radius of about 0.94 RJ (refs. 1,2), whose extended atmosphere is eroding3. Previous observations showed evidence for water vapour and a thick, high-altitude condensate layer in the atmosphere of WASP-107b (refs. 4,5). Recently, photochemically produced sulfur dioxide (SO2) was detected in the atmosphere of a hot (about 1,200 K) Saturn-mass planet from transmission spectroscopy near 4.05 μm (refs. 6,7), but for temperatures below about 1,000 K, sulfur is predicted to preferably form sulfur allotropes instead of SO2 (refs. 8,9,10). Here we report the 9σ detection of two fundamental vibration bands of SO2, at 7.35 μm and 8.69 μm, in the transmission spectrum of WASP-107b using the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) of JWST. This discovery establishes WASP-107b as the second irradiated exoplanet with confirmed photochemistry, extending the temperature range of exoplanets exhibiting detected photochemistry from about 1,200 K down to about 740 K. Furthermore, our spectral analysis reveals the presence of silicate clouds, which are strongly favoured (around 7σ) over simpler cloud set-ups. Furthermore, water is detected (around 12σ) but methane is not. These findings provide evidence of disequilibrium chemistry and indicate a dynamically active atmosphere with a super-solar metallicity.
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| 3. |
- Wright, Gillian, et al.
(författare)
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The Mid-infrared Instrument for JWST and Its In-flight Performance
- 2023
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Ingår i: Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. - 0004-6280 .- 1538-3873. ; 135:1046
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) extends the reach of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to 28.5 μm. It provides subarcsecond-resolution imaging, high sensitivity coronagraphy, and spectroscopy at resolutions of λ/Δλ ∼ 100-3500, with the high-resolution mode employing an integral field unit to provide spatial data cubes. The resulting broad suite of capabilities will enable huge advances in studies over this wavelength range. This overview describes the history of acquiring this capability for JWST. It discusses the basic attributes of the instrument optics, the detector arrays, and the cryocooler that keeps everything at approximately 7 K. It gives a short description of the data pipeline and of the instrument performance demonstrated during JWST commissioning. The bottom line is that the telescope and MIRI are both operating to the standards set by pre-launch predictions, and all of the MIRI capabilities are operating at, or even a bit better than, the level that had been expected. The paper is also designed to act as a roadmap to more detailed papers on different aspects of MIRI.
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| 4. |
- Gasman, Danny, et al.
(författare)
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JWST MIRI/MRS in-flight absolute flux calibration and tailored fringe correction for unresolved sources
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 673
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The Medium Resolution Spectrometer (MRS) is one of the four observing modes of JWST/MIRI. Using JWST in-flight data of unresolved (point) sources, we can derive the MRS absolute spectral response function (ASRF) starting from raw data. Spectral fringing, caused by coherent reflections inside the detector arrays, plays a critical role in the derivation and interpretation of the MRS ASRF. The fringe corrections implemented in the current pipeline are not optimal for non-extended sources, and a high density of molecular features particularly inhibits an accurate correction. Aims. In this paper, we present an alternative way to calibrate the MIRI/MRS data. Firstly, we derive a fringe correction that accounts for the dependence of the fringe properties on the MIRI/MRS pupil illumination and detector pixel sampling of the point spread function. Secondly, we derive the MRS ASRF using an absolute flux calibrator observed across the full 5- 28 µm wavelength range of the MRS. Thirdly, we apply the new ASRF to the spectrum of a G dwarf and compare it with the output of the JWST/MIRI default data reduction pipeline. Finally, we examine the impact of the different fringe corrections on the detectability of molecular features in the G dwarf and K giant. Methods. The absolute flux calibrator HD 163466 (A-star) was used to derive tailored point source fringe flats at each of the default dither locations of the MRS. The fringe-corrected point source integrated spectrum of HD 163466 was used to derive the MRS ASRF using a theoretical model for the stellar continuum. A cross-correlation was run to quantify the uncertainty on the detection of CO, SiO, and OH in the K giant and CO in the G dwarf for different fringe corrections. Results. The point-source-tailored fringe correction and ASRF are found to perform at the same level as the current corrections, beating down the fringe contrast to the sub-percent level in the G dwarf in the longer wavelengths, whilst mitigating the alteration of real molecular features. The same tailored solutions can be applied to other MRS unresolved targets. Target acquisition is required to ensure the pointing is accurate enough to apply this method. A pointing repeatability issue in the MRS limits the effectiveness of the tailored fringe flats is at short wavelengths. Finally, resulting spectra require no scaling to make the sub-bands match, and a dichroic spectral leak at 12.2 µm is removed.
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| 5. |
- Hirschauer, Alec S., et al.
(författare)
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Imaging of I Zw 18 by JWST. I. Detecting Dusty Stellar Populations
- 2024
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Ingår i: Astronomical Journal. - 1538-3881 .- 0004-6256. ; 168:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a JWST imaging survey of I Zw 18, the archetypal extremely metal-poor, star-forming (SF), blue compact dwarf galaxy. With an oxygen abundance of only similar to 3% Z circle dot, it is among the lowest-metallicity systems known in the local Universe, and is, therefore, an excellent accessible analog for the galactic building blocks which existed at early epochs of ionization and star formation. These JWST data provide a comprehensive infrared (IR) view of I Zw 18 with eight filters utilizing both Near Infrared Camera (F115W, F200W, F356W, and F444W) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (F770W, F1000W, F1500W, and F1800W) photometry, which we have used to identify key stellar populations that are bright in the near- and mid-IR. These data allow for a better understanding of the origins of dust and dust-production mechanisms in metal-poor environments by characterizing the population of massive, evolved stars in the red supergiant (RSG) and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phases. In addition, it enables the identification of the brightest dust-enshrouded young stellar objects (YSOs), which provide insight into the formation of massive stars at extremely low metallicities typical of the very early Universe. This paper provides an overview of the observational strategy and data processing, and presents first science results, including identifications of dusty AGB, RSG, and bright YSO candidates. These first results assess the scientific quality of JWST data and provide a guide for obtaining and interpreting future observations of the dusty and evolved stars inhabiting compact dwarf SF galaxies in the local Universe.
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| 6. |
- Kattge, Jens, et al.
(författare)
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TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access
- 2020
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 26:1, s. 119-188
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.
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