English

Relative occurrence rates of terrestrial planets orbiting FGK stars

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2021-02-24 v1 Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Abstract

This paper aims to derive a map of relative planet occurrence rates that can provide constraints on the overall distribution of terrestrial planets around FGK stars. Based on the planet candidates in the Kepler DR25 data release, I first generate a continuous density map of planet distribution using a Gaussian kernel model and correct the geometric factor that the discovery space of a transit event decreases along with the increase of planetary orbital distance. Then I fit two exponential decay functions of detection efficiency along with the increase of planetary orbital distance and the decrease of planetary radius. Finally, the density map of planet distribution is compensated for the fitted exponential decay functions of detection efficiency to obtain a relative occurrence rate distribution of terrestrial planets. The result shows two regions with planet abundance: one corresponds to planets with radii between 0.5 and 1.5 R_Earth within 0.2 AU, the other corresponds to planets with radii between 1.5 and 3 R_Earth beyond 0.5 AU. It also confirms the features that may be caused by atmospheric evaporation: there is a vacancy of planets of sizes between 2.0 and 4.0 R_Earth inside of ~ 0.5 AU, and a valley with relatively low occurrence rates between 0.2 and 0.5 AU for planets with radii between 1.5 and 3.0 R_Earth.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2102.05808,
  title  = {Relative occurrence rates of terrestrial planets orbiting FGK stars},
  author = {Sheng Jin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.05808},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

Accepted for publication in MNRAS