GASTLI

An open-source coupled interior–atmosphere model to unveil gas-giant composition

¹ Max-Planck Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
e-mail: acuna@mpia.de
² Chinese Academy of Sciences South America Center for Astronomy (CASSACA), National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China

Received: 30 April 2024
Accepted: 16 June 2024

Abstract

The metal mass fractions of gas giants are a powerful tool for constraining their formation mechanisms and evolution. The metal content is inferred by comparing mass and radius measurements with interior structure and evolution models. In the midst of the JWST, CHEOPS, TESS, and the forthcoming PLATO era, we are at the brink of obtaining unprecedented precision in radius, age, and atmospheric metallicity measurements. To prepare for this wealth of data, we present the GAS gianT modeL for Interiors (GASTLI), an easy-to-use, publicly available Python package. The code is optimized to rapidly calculate mass-radius relations, and radius and luminosity thermal evolution curves for a variety of envelope compositions and core mass fractions. Its applicability spans planets with masses of 17 M_⊕ < M < 6 M_Jup, and equilibrium temperatures of T_eq < 1000 K. The interior model is stratified in a core composed of water and rock, and an envelope constituted by H/He and metals (water). The interior is coupled to a grid of self-consistent, cloud-free atmospheric models to determine the atmospheric and boundary interior temperature, as well as the contribution of the atmosphere to the total radius. We successfully validate GASTLI by comparing it to previous work and data of the gas giants of the Solar System and Neptune. We also test GASTLI on the Neptune-mass exoplanet HAT-P-26 b, finding a bulk metal mass fraction of between 0.60 and 0.78 and a core mass of 8.5–14.4 M_⊕. Finally, we explore the impact of different equations of state and assumptions, such as C/O ratio and transit pressure, in the estimation of bulk metal mass fraction. These differences between interior models entail a change in radius of up to 2.5% for Jupiter-mass planets, but of more than 10% for Neptune-mass. These are equivalent to variations in core mass fraction of 0.07, or 0.10 in envelope metal mass fraction.