Circulation models and JWST observations of the inflated ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-76b

This study investigates the effect of varying internal heat flux and atmospheric drag on the observable properties of WASP-76b, showing GCM outputs and comparisons with JWST phase-curve observations. A suite of general circulation models are run, which solve the primitive equations of meteorology coupled to non-grey correlated-k radiative transfer with the SPARC/MITgcm. The effect of Lorentz forces are represented by changing a spatially constant drag timescale, and internal temperature is varied across a range of predicted values for hot and ultra-hot Jupiters. The results are then post-processed using the gCMRT radiative transfer code to produce simulated phase curves for comparison with brand new JWST/NIRSpec data, following the observation of this target on January 5th 2025. This study will build on the work of May & Komacek et al. 2021 by incorporating non-grey radiative transfer through the SPARC scheme and using the JWST/NIRSpec phase curve data alongside the Spitzer phase curve as well as ground-based high-resolution spectroscopy, helping to deepen our understanding of the effect of internal heat fluxes and atmospheric drag forces on the observable properties of ultra-hot Jupiters.