Self-consistent Models of Y Dwarf Atmospheres with Water Clouds and Disequilibrium Chemist

1D radiative-convective equilibrium models for Y dwarfs and cool giant planets, computed using coolTLUSTY. The grid spans effective temperatures from 200 to 600 K, metallicities of [-0.5], [0], and [+0.5] dex, and surface gravities from log10(g) = 3.5 to 5.0, covering both cloudy and clear cases with equilibrium and non-equilibrium chemistry. Created by Brianna Lacy at The University of Texas at Austin, the models are described in the associated 2023 publication.

Use Cases

• Simulating atmospheric spectra for Y dwarfs based on the 200-600 K temperature grid.
• Studying the impact of water clouds on radiative transfer in cool giant planet atmospheres.
• Investigating the effects of disequilibrium carbon and nitrogen chemistry due to vertical mixing.
• Benchmarking observational data from telescopes against synthetic spectra with R ~ 4340 resolution.
• Analyzing how metallicity variations influence atmospheric structure and emission.

Strengths

• Models cover a defined parameter space: 200-600 K effective temperature, log10(g) from 3.5 to 5.0, and three metallicities.
• Includes both cloudy and clear atmospheric cases, as well as thermochemical equilibrium and non-equilibrium chemistry scenarios.
• Spectral coverage extends from 0.5 to 300 microns with an average resolving power of R ~ 4340 across 30,000 frequency points.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Brianna Lacy, The University of Texas at Austin

Collection Method

Computed using the coolTLUSTY radiative-convective equilibrium code with updated molecular absorption cross-sections.