Consistently Simulating a Wide Range of Atmospheric Scenarios for K2-18b with a Flexible Radiative Transfer Module

Abstract

The atmospheres of small, potentially rocky exoplanets are expected to cover a diverse range in composition and mass. Studying such objects therefore requires flexible and wide-ranging modeling capabilities. We present in this work the essential development steps that lead to our flexible radiative transfer module, REDFOX, and validate REDFOX for the solar system planets Earth, Venus, and Mars, as well as for steam atmospheres. REDFOX is a k-distribution model using the correlated-k approach with the random overlap method for the calculation of opacities used in the δ-two-stream approximation for radiative transfer. Opacity contributions from Rayleigh scattering, UV/visible cross sections, and continua can be added selectively. With the improved capabilities of our new model, we calculate various atmospheric scenarios for K2-18b, a super-Earth/sub-Neptune with ~8 M ⊕ orbiting in the temperate zone around an M star, with recently observed H2O spectral features in the infrared. We model Earth-like, Venus-like, and H2–He primary atmospheres of different solar metallicity and show resulting climates and spectral characteristics compared to observed data. Our results suggest that K2-18b has an H2–He atmosphere with limited amounts of H2O and CH4. Results do not support the possibility of K2-18b having a water reservoir directly exposed to the atmosphere, which would reduce atmospheric scale heights, and with it the amplitudes of spectral features, making the latter inconsistent with the observations. We also performed tests for H2–He atmospheres up to 50 times solar metallicity, all compatible with the observations.