SPIRou near-infrared spectropolarimetry of the ultra-hot Jupiter KELT-9b: tentative detection of the planet magnetic field

Abstract

Exoplanetary magnetic fields govern atmospheric escape and circulation but have eluded detection in close-in planets. In the ultra-hot Jupiter KELT-9b, atmospheric dynamo is predicted to generate atmospheric fields of 400--4000 G. We search for the circular polarization in atomic lines that a magnetic field would imprint, through the Zeeman effect, on the transmission spectrum of KELT-9b. We observed three transits with SPIRou at the CFHT, on 07 September 2025 and 03 and 06 July 2026, and applied least squares deconvolution to 1398 atomic lines to map the transit-averaged Stokes $V$ and null spectra against orbital semi-amplitude $K_{\rm p}$ and systemic velocity $v_{\rm sys}$. The 2025 transit shows a Stokes $V$ signature of $V/I_c = 9.3 \times 10^{-5}$ at $K_{\rm p} = 219 \pm 11$ km s$^{-1}$, $v = -34.0 \pm 1.2$ km s$^{-1}$, close to the expected planetary velocity. Its false-alarm probability is $1.9 \times 10^{-4}$, formally a marginal detection. Both 2026 transits are of comparable sensitivity but neither exhibits a signal at that location, setting $3σ$ limits of $4.9$ and $6.0 \times 10^{-5}$; the 2025 amplitude would have been recovered at $4.9σ$ and $4.0σ$. The 2025 signature is robust to the tests we applied to it, but qualifies as a marginal detection at best. Spurious signals of comparable strengths occur elsewhere in our Stokes $V$ and null maps, and we cannot exclude that our marginal detection is excess noise. It is not reproduced ten months later.