Transverse Vector Decomposition Method for Analytical Inversion of Exoplanet Transit Spectra

Abstract

We develop a new method for analytical inversion of binned exoplanet transit spectra and for retrieval of planet parameters. The method has a geometrical interpretation and treats each observed spectrum as a single vector r → in the multidimensional spectral space of observed bin values. We decompose the observed r → into two orthogonal components: a wavelength-independent component r → ∥ corresponding to the spectral mean across all observed bins, and a transverse component r → ⊥ that is wavelength dependent and contains the relevant information about the atmospheric chemistry. The method allows us to extract, without any prior assumptions or additional information, the relative mass (or volume) mixing ratios of the absorbers in the atmosphere, the scale height to stellar radius ratio, H / R S , and the atmospheric temperature. The method is illustrated and validated with several examples of increasing complexity.