{
  "abstract": "Atmospheric characterization of a warm 10-30 Myr old sub-Neptune progenitor (V1298 Tau b) and a $\\sim$3.4 Gyr old warm super-Neptune (WASP-107b) using JWST have revealed extremely low methane abundance. Atmospheric forward models find higher than expected inferred intrinsic temperatures (450~K and 500~K) --- inconsistent with theoretical planet formation and core-envelope evolution predictions (70K and 150K respectively) assuming a convective interior. We explore three hypotheses to reconcile the high intrinsic temperatures with evolutionary models --- tidal heating, silicate rainout and heat trapping due to deep cloud condensation. Tidal heating requires high planetary obliquity ($\\gtrsim70^{\\circ}$) and low reduced tidal quality factor ($\\sim$100) for V1298 Tau b, implying an extremely short obliquity damping timescale ($<$10$^{4}$ years). Although high obliquity may be maintained by spin--orbit resonant locking, it requires fine-tuning and is therefore unlikely. Silicate rainout can increase the temperature in the deep atmosphere of the young V1298 Tau b (0.1-1 bar) by $\\sim$700K, without requiring extremely high intrinsic temperature, but is unlikely to explain WASP-107b, as silicate rainout timescales are expected to be much shorter than its age. Including cloud condensation in self-consistent atmospheric models reduces the inferred intrinsic temperature for V1298 Tau b from 500K to 300K, still exceeding the core-envelope prediction (150K). Future measurements of thermal emission from young transiting planets such as V1298 Tau b, combined with methane abundances as a function of age, will be needed to distinguish between these scenarios.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.32044",
  "author_total": 10,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Saugata Barat"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jean-Michel Désert"
    },
    {
      "name": "Allona Vazan"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ritika Sethi"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sagnick Mukherjee"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sarah Millholland"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jonathan J. Fortney"
    },
    {
      "name": "William Misener"
    },
    {
      "name": "Hilke E. Schlichting"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sara Seager"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cs8php8kvd81f.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.32044",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "cs8php8kvd81f",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.32044",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.EP"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3103|Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214702899",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.32044",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-25",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cs8php8kvd81f.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:25:12Z",
      "native_id": "2609.32044",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.32044"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.EP",
      "subfield": "planetary"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Investigating potential causes for high inferred intrinsic temperatures of warm transiting Neptune and Sub-Neptune planets",
  "title_text": "Investigating potential causes for high inferred intrinsic temperatures of warm transiting Neptune and Sub-Neptune planets",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:25:12Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cs8php8kvd81f",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}