Related papers: Thermal escape from extrasolar giant planets
Transit observations in Ly-alpha of HD209458b and HD189733b revealed signatures of neutral hydrogen escaping the planets. We present a 3D particle model of the dynamics of the escaping atoms, and calculate theoretical Ly-alpha absorption…
We calculate as a function of orbital distance, mass, and age the theoretical spectra and orbit-averaged planet/star flux ratios for representative wide-separation extrasolar giant planets (EGPs) in the optical, near-infrared, and…
Interest among astronomers in the detection of extra-solar planets is accelerating with the growing realization that it may soon be technically feasible. The ongoing renaissance in telescope construction and the anticipated launches of new…
Recent James Webb Space Telescope observations of cool, rocky exoplanets reveal a probable lack of thick atmospheres, suggesting prevalent escape of the secondary atmospheres formed after losing primordial hydrogen. Yet, simulations…
Intense X-ray and ultraviolet stellar irradiation can heat and inflate the atmospheres of closely orbiting exoplanets, driving mass outflows that may be significant enough to evaporate a sizable fraction of the planet atmosphere over the…
Water, methane and carbon-monoxide are expected to be among the most abundant molecules besides molecular hydrogen in the hot atmosphere of close-in EGPs. Transit observations in the mid-IR allow the atmospheric content of transiting…
Short-period exoplanets potentially lose envelope masses during their evolution because of atmospheric escape caused by the intense XUV radiation from their host stars. We develop a combined model of atmospheric mass loss calculation and…
The amount of ultraviolet irradiation and ablation experienced by a planet depends strongly on the temperature of its host star. Of the thousands of extra-solar planets now known, only four giant planets have been found that transit hot,…
A gap in exoplanets' radius distribution has been widely attributed to the photo-evaporation threshold of their progenitors' gaseous envelope. Giant impacts can also lead to substantial mass-loss. The outflowing gas endures tidal torque…
The close-in extrasolar giant planets (CEGPs) reside in irradiated environments much more intense than that of the giant planets in our solar system. The high UV irradiance strongly influences their photochemistry and the general current…
Making use of the publicly available 1D photoionization hydrodynamics code ATES we set out to investigate the combined effects of planetary gravitational potential energy ($\phi_p\equiv GM_p/R_p$) and stellar X-ray and Extreme Ultraviolet…
It is now recognized that energetic stellar photon and particle radiation evaporates and erodes planetary atmospheres and controls upper atmospheric chemistry. Key exoplanet host stars will be too faint at X-ray wavelengths for accurate…
Gas giants are the most readily detectable exoplanets but fundamental questions about their system architectures, formation, migration, and atmospheres have been unanswerable with the current generation of ground- and space-based…
Atmospheric escape is thought to significantly influence the evolution of exoplanets, especially for sub-Jupiter planets on short orbital periods. Theoretical models predict that hydrodynamic escape could erode the atmospheres of such…
Using a full frequency-dependent atmosphere code that can incorporate irradiation by a central primary star, we calculate self-consistent boundary conditions for the evolution of the radius of the transiting planet HD 209458b. Using a…
The population of known low- to intermediate-mass exoplanets shows a large spread in densities, which is believed to be due to the diversity of planetary atmospheres and thus controlled by planetary atmospheric mass loss. One of the main…
We develop a flexible one-dimensional code to model the escape of hydrogen and helium from a hot Jupiter as a result of photoionization from extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) radiation. We include stellar spectrum heating and ionization, radiative…
In order to characterize giant exoplanets and better understand their origin, knowledge of how the planet's composition depends on its mass and stellar environment is required. In this work, we simulate the thermal evolution of gaseous…
The results of three-dimensional numerical simulations of the gas dynamics of the atmosphere of a "hot Jupiter" exoplanet during the passage of a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the central star are presented. These computations assumed…
The radius of an exoplanet may be affected by various factors, including irradiation, planet mass and heavy element content. A significant number of transiting exoplanets have now been discovered for which the mass, radius, semi-major axis,…