Data from "A JWST Panchromatic Thermal Emission Spectrum of the Warm Neptune Archetype GJ 436b"

GJ 436b is the archetype warm Neptune exoplanet. The planet’s thermal emission spectrum was previously observed via intensive secondary eclipse campaigns with {\it Spitzer}. The atmosphere has long been interpreted to be extremely metal-rich, out of chemical equilibrium, and potentially tidally heated. We present the first panchromatic emission spectrum of GJ 436b observed with {\it JWST}'s NIRCAM (F322W2 \& F444W) and MIRI (LRS) instruments between 2.4 and 11.9 $\mu$m. Surprisingly, the {\it JWST} spectrum appears significantly fainter around 3.6 $\mu$m than that implied by {\it Spitzer} photometry. The molecular absorption features in the spectrum are relatively weak, and we only find tentative evidence of {\cotwo} absorption at 2$\sigma$. Under the assumption of a day-side blackbody, we find $T_{\rm day}$=608.0$\pm$4.3 K, which is less than the zero Bond albedo equilibrium temperature. We use it to obtain a 3$\sigma$ upper limit on the Bond albedo of $A_B{\le}$0.65. To understand the spectrum we employ 1D radiative--convective models but find that atmospheric constraints depend strongly on model assumptions. If thermochemical equilibrium is assumed, we find a cloudy metal-enriched atmosphere (metallicity $\ge$ 500$\times$solar). We employ 1D photochemical modeling to show that the observed spectrum is also consistent with a cloud-free, relatively lower-metallicity atmosphere (metallicity $\ge$30$\times$Solar) with a cold internal temperature ({\tint}$\sim$ 60 K). These are much lower metallicities and internal temperatures than inferences from {\it Spitzer} photometry. The low $T_{\rm day}$ and non-detection of transmission features at high spectral resolution does suggest a role for cloud opacity, but this is not definitive.