Title: Detecting transit signatures of exoplanetary rings using SOAP3.0,
Abstract: CONTEXT. It is theoretically possible for rings to have formed around
extrasolar planets in a similar way to that in which they formed around the
giant planets in our solar system. However, no such rings have been detected to
date.
AIMS: We aim to test the possibility of detecting rings around exoplanets by
investigating the photometric and spectroscopic ring signatures in
high-precision transit signals.
METHODS: The photometric and spectroscopic transit signals of a ringed planet
is expected to show deviations from that of a spherical planet. We used these
deviations to quantify the detectability of rings. We present SOAP3.0 which is
a numerical tool to simulate ringed planet transits and measure ring
detectability based on amplitudes of the residuals between the ringed planet
signal and best fit ringless model.
RESULTS: We find that it is possible to detect the photometric and
spectroscopic signature of near edge-on rings especially around planets with
high impact parameter. Time resolution $\leq$ 7 mins is required for the
photometric detection, while 15 mins is sufficient for the spectroscopic
detection. We also show that future instruments like CHEOPS and ESPRESSO, with
precisions that allow ring signatures to be well above their noise-level,
present good prospects for detecting rings.