Letter to the Editor

No evidence for radius inflation in hot Jupiters from vertical advection of heat

¹ Centre for ExoLife Sciences, Niels Bohr Institute, Øster Voldgade 5, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
e-mail: aaron.schneider@nbi.ku.dk
² Institute of Astronomy, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
³ Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Schmiedlstrasse 6, 8042 Graz, Austria
⁴ Centre for Exoplanet Science, School of Physics & Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews KY169SS, UK

Received: 23 August 2022
Accepted: 1 October 2022

Abstract

Elucidating the radiative-dynamical coupling between the upper photosphere and deeper atmosphere may be key to our understanding of the abnormally large radii of hot Jupiters. Very long integration times of 3D general circulation models (GCMs) with self-consistent radiative transfer are needed to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the feedback processes between dynamics and radiation. Here, we present the longest 3D nongray GCM study to date (86000 d) of an ultra-hot Jupiter (WASP-76 b) that has reached a final converged state. Furthermore, we present a method that can be used to accelerate the path toward temperature convergence in the deep atmospheric layers. We find that the final converged temperature profile is cold in the deep atmospheric layers, lacking any sign of vertical transport of potential temperature by large-scale atmospheric motions. We therefore conclude that coupling between radiation and dynamics alone is not sufficient to explain the abnormally large radii of inflated hot gas giants.