Neglected Silicon Dioxide Polymorphs as Clouds in Substellar Atmospheres

Direct mid-infrared signatures of silicate clouds in substellar atmospheres were first detected in Spitzer observations of brown dwarfs, although their existence was previously inferred from near-infrared spectra. With JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument, we can now more deeply probe silicate features from 8 to 10 μm, exploring specific particle composition, size, and structure. Recent characterization efforts have led to the identification of silica (silicon dioxide, SiO₂) cloud features in brown dwarfs and giant exoplanets. Previous modeling, motivated by chemical equilibrium, has primarily focused on magnesium silicates (forsterite, enstatite), crystalline quartz, and amorphous silica to match observations. Here, we explore the previously neglected possibility that other crystalline structures of silica, i.e., polymorphs, may be more likely to form at the pressure and temperature conditions of substellar upper atmospheres. We evaluate JWST's diagnostic potential for these polymorphs and find that existing published transmission data are only able to conclusively distinguish tridymite, but future higher signal-to-noise ratio transmission observations, directly imaged planet observations, and brown dwarf observations may be able to disentangle all four of the silica polymorphs. We ultimately propose that accounting for the distinct opacities arising from the possible crystalline structure of cloud materials may act as a powerful, observable diagnostic tracer of atmospheric conditions, where particle crystallinity records the history of the atmospheric regions through which clouds formed and evolved. Finally, we highlight that high-fidelity, accurate laboratory measurements of silica polymorphs are critically needed to draw meaningful conclusions about the identities and structures of clouds in substellar atmospheres.