Related papers: Kepler planets: a tale of evaporation
Planet-forming disc evolution is not independent of the star formation and feedback process in giant molecular clouds. In particular, OB stars emit UV radiation that heats and disperses discs in a process called 'external photoevaporation'.…
In recent years a paradigm shift has occurred in exoplanet science, wherein low-mass stars are increasingly viewed as a foundational pillar of the search for potentially habitable worlds in the solar neighborhood. However, the formation…
Tidal dissipation in planetary interiors is one of the key physical mechanisms that drive the evolution of star-planet and planet-moon systems. New constraints are now obtained both in the Solar and exoplanetary systems. Tidal dissipation…
Upper atmospheres of Hot Jupiters are subject to extreme radiation conditions that can result in rapid atmospheric escape. The composition and structure of the upper atmospheres of these planets are affected by the high-energy spectrum of…
Small planets, 1-4x the size of Earth, are extremely common around Sun-like stars, and surprisingly so, as they are missing in our solar system. Recent detections have yielded enough information about this class of exoplanets to begin…
According to the sequential accretion model, giant planet formation is based first on the formation of a solid core which, when massive enough, can gravitationally bind gas from the nebula to form the envelope. In order to trigger the…
Statistical analyses of large surveys for transiting planets such as the Kepler mission must account for systematic errors and biases. Transit detection depends not only on the planet's radius and orbital period, but also on host star…
A large fraction of giant planets have gaseous envelopes that are limited to about 10 % of their total mass budget. Such planets are present in the Solar System (Uranus, Neptune) and are frequently observed in short periods around other…
The evolution of exoplanetary systems with a close-in planet is ruled by the tides mutually raised on the two bodies and by the magnetic braking of the host star. This paper deals with consequences of this evolution and some features that…
Extrasolar planets that pass in front of their host star (transit) cause a temporary decrease in the apparent brightness of the star once per orbit, providing a direct measure of the planet's size and orbital period. In some systems with…
Detection of Jupiter mass companions to nearby solar type stars with precise radial velocity measurements is now routine, and Doppler surveys are moving towards lower velocity amplitudes. The detection of several Neptune-mass planets with…
Protoplanetary disks are found around young stars, and represent the embryonic stage of planetary systems. At different phases of their evolution, disks may undergo substantial mass-loss by photoevaporation: energetic photons from the…
Stars interact with their close-in planets through radiation, gravitation, and magnetic fields. We investigate the energy input to a planetary atmosphere by reconnection between stellar and planetary magnetic fields and compare it to the…
Understanding atmospheric escape in close-in exoplanets is critical to interpreting their evolution. We map out the parameter space over which photoevaporation and core-powered mass loss dominate atmospheric escape. Generally, the…
The Kepler mission enabled us to look at the intrinsic population of exoplanets within our galaxy. In period-radius space, the distribution of the intrinsic population of planets contains structure that can trace planet formation and…
The orbital distance at which close-in exoplanets maintain their initial mass is investigated by modelling the maximum expected thermal and nonthermal mass loss rates over several Gyr. Depending on an exosphere formation time and the…
Winds from short-period Earth and Neptune mass exoplanets, driven by high energy radiation from a young star, may evaporate a significant fraction of a planet's mass. If the momentum flux from the evaporative wind is not aligned with the…
Short-period sub-Neptunes with substantial volatile envelopes are among the most common type of known exoplanets. However, recent studies of the Kepler population have suggested a dearth of sub-Neptunes on highly irradiated orbits, where…
The recently discovered low-density "super-Earths" Kepler-11b, Kepler-11f, Kepler-11d, Kepler-11e, and planets such as GJ 1214b represent most likely planets which are surrounded by dense H/He envelopes or contain deep H2O oceans also…
Context: According to theory, high-energy emission from the coronae of cool stars can severely erode the atmospheres of orbiting planets. No observational tests of the long term effects of erosion have yet been made. Aims: To analyze the…