JWST Measurements of 13C, 18O, and 17O in the Atmosphere of Super-Jupiter VHS 1256 b

Abstract

Abstract Isotope ratios have recently been measured in the atmospheres of directly imaged and transiting exoplanets from ground-based observations. The arrival of JWST allows us to characterize exoplanetary atmospheres in further detail and opens up wavelengths inaccessible from the ground. In this work we constrain the carbon and oxygen isotopes 13 C, 18 O, and 17 O from CO in the atmosphere of the directly imaged companion VHS 1256 b through retrievals of the ∼4.1–5.3 μ m NIRSpec G395H/F290LP observations from the early-release science program (ERS 1386). We detect and constrain 13 C 16 O, 12 C 18 O, and 12 C 17 O at 32 σ , 16 σ , and 10 σ confidence respectively, thanks to the very high signal-to-noise observations. We find the ratio of abundances are more precisely constrained than their absolute values, with 12 C / 13 C = 62 − 2 + 2 , in between previous measurements for companions (∼30) and isolated brown dwarfs (∼100). The oxygen isotope ratios are 16 O / 18 O = 425 − 28 + 33 and 16 O / 17 O = 1010 − 100 + 120 . All of the ratios are lower than the local interstellar medium and solar system, suggesting that abundances of the more minor isotopes are enhanced compared to the primary. This could be driven by isotope fractionation in protoplanetary disks, which can potentially alter the carbon and oxygen ratios through isotope selective photodissociation, gas/ice partitioning, and isotopic exchange reactions. In addition to CO, we constrain 1 H 2 16 O and 12 C 16 O 2 (the primary isotopologues of both species), but find only upper limits on 12 C 1 H 4 and 14 N 1 H 3 . This work highlights the power of JWST to constrain isotopes in exoplanet atmospheres, with great promise in determining formation histories in the future.