The GAPS Programme at TNG

Context. The atmospheric characterisation of hot and warm Neptune-size exoplanets is challenging mainly due to their relatively small radius and atmospheric scale height, which reduce the amplitude of atmospheric spectral features. The warm-Neptune HAT-P-11 b is a remarkable target for atmospheric characterisation because of the large brightness of its host star (V = 9.46 mag; H = 7.13 mag). Aims. The aims of this work are to review the main physical and architectural properties of the HAT-P-11 planetary system, and to probe the presence of eight molecular species in the atmosphere of HAT-P-11 b through near-infrared (NIR) high-resolution transmission spectroscopy. Methods. We reviewed the physical and architectural properties of the HAT-P-11 planetary system by analysing transits and occultations of HAT-P-11 b from the Kepler data set as well as HIRES at Keck archival radial-velocity data. We modelled the latter with Gaussian-process regression and a combined quasi-periodic and squared-exponential kernel to account for stellar variations on both (short-term) rotation and (long-term) activity-cycle timescales. In order to probe the atmospheric composition of HAT-P-11 b, we observed four transits of this target with the NIR GIANO-B at TNG spectrograph and cross-correlated the data with template atmospheric transmission spectra. Results. We find that the long-period radial-velocity signal previously attributed to the HAT-P-11 c planet (P similar to 9.3 yr; M-p sin i similar to 1.6 M-J; e similar to 0.6) is more likely due to the stellar magnetic activity cycle. Nonetheless, the HIPPARCOS-Gaia difference in the proper-motion anomaly suggests that an outer-bound companion might still exist. For HAT-P-11 b, we measure a radius of R-p = 0.4466 +/- 0.0059 R-J, a mass of M-p = 0.0787 +/- 0.0048 M-J, a bulk density of rho p = 1.172 +/- 0.085 g cm(-3), and an orbital eccentricity of e = 0.2577(-0.0025)(+0.0033). These values are compatible with those from the literature. Probing its atmosphere, we detect the presence of two molecular species, H2O and NH3, with a S/N of 5.1 and 5.3, and a significance of 3.4 sigma and 5.0 sigma, respectively. We also tentatively detect the presence of CO2 and CH4, with a S/N of 3.0 and 4.8, and a significance of 3.2 sigma and 2.6 sigma, respectively. Conclusions. We revisit the HAT-P-11 planetary system, confirm the presence of H2O, and report the detection of NH3 in the atmosphere of HAT-P-11 b, also finding hints for the presence of CO2 and CH4 that need to be confirmed by further observations.