Tentative Evidence for Water Vapor in the Atmosphere of the Neptune-Size Exoplanet HD 106315 c

We present a transmission spectrum for the Neptune-size exoplanet HD 106315 c from optical to infrared wavelengths based on transit observations from the Hubble Space Telescope/Wide Field Camera 3, K2, and Spitzer. The spectrum shows tentative evidence for a water absorption feature in the \(1.1 - 1.7\mu\)m wavelength range with a small amplitude of 30 ppm (corresponding to just \(0.8 \pm 0.04\) atmospheric scale heights). Based on an atmospheric retrieval analysis, the presence of water vapor is tentatively favored with a Bayes factor of 1.7 - 2.6 (depending on prior assumptions). The spectrum is most consistent with either enhanced metallicity, high altitude condensates, or both. Cloud-free solar composition atmospheres are ruled out at \(>5\sigma\) confidence. We compare the spectrum to grids of cloudy and hazy forward models and find that the spectrum is fit well by models with moderate cloud lofting or haze formation efficiency, over a wide range of metallicities (\(1 - 100\times\) solar). We combine the constraints on the envelope composition with an interior structure model and estimate that the core mass fraction is \(\gtrsim0.3\). With a bulk composition reminiscent of that of Neptune and an orbital distance of 0.15 AU, HD 106315 c hints that planets may form out of broadly similar material and arrive at vastly different orbits later in their evolution.