The GAPS Programme at TNG

Abstract

Context. The atmospheric characterisation of hot and warm Neptune-size exoplanets is challenging mainly due to their relatively small radius and atmospheric scale height, which reduce the amplitude of atmospheric spectral features. The warm-Neptune HAT-P-11 b is a remarkable target for atmospheric characterisation because of the large brightness of its host star ( V = 9.46 mag; H = 7.13 mag). Aims. The aims of this work are to review the main physical and architectural properties of the HAT-P-11 planetary system, and to probe the presence of eight molecular species in the atmosphere of HAT-P-11 b through near-infrared (NIR) high-resolution transmission spectroscopy. Methods. We reviewed the physical and architectural properties of the HAT-P-11 planetary system by analysing transits and occultations of HAT-P-11 b from the Kepler data set as well as HIRES at Keck archival radial-velocity data. We modelled the latter with Gaussian-process regression and a combined quasi-periodic and squared-exponential kernel to account for stellar variations on both (short-term) rotation and (long-term) activity-cycle timescales. In order to probe the atmospheric composition of HAT-P-11 b, we observed four transits of this target with the NIR GIANO-B at TNG spectrograph and cross-correlated the data with template atmospheric transmission spectra. Results. We find that the long-period radial-velocity signal previously attributed to the HAT-P-11 c planet ( P ~ 9.3 yr; M p sin i ~ 1.6 M J ; e ~ 0.6) is more likely due to the stellar magnetic activity cycle. Nonetheless, the H IPPARCOS - Gaia difference in the proper-motion anomaly suggests that an outer-bound companion might still exist. For HAT-P-11 b, we measure a radius of R p = 0.4466 ± 0.0059 R J , a mass of M p = 0.0787 ± 0.0048 M J , a bulk density of ρ p = 1.172 ± 0.085 g cm −3 , and an orbital eccentricity of e = 0.2577 −0.0025 +0.0033 . These values are compatible with those from the literature. Probing its atmosphere, we detect the presence of two molecular species, H 2 O and NH 3 , with a S/N of 5.1 and 5.3, and a significance of 3.4 σ and 5.0 σ , respectively. We also tentatively detect the presence of CO 2 and CH 4 , with a S/N of 3.0 and 4.8, and a significance of 3.2 σ and 2.6 σ , respectively. Conclusions. We revisit the HAT-P-11 planetary system, confirm the presence of H 2 O, and report the detection of NH 3 in the atmosphere of HAT-P-11 b, also finding hints for the presence of CO 2 and CH 4 that need to be confirmed by further observations.