Related papers: The evaporation valley in the Kepler planets
The potentially important role of stellar irradiation in envelope removal for planets with diameters of $\lessapprox$ 2 R$_{\Earth}$ has been inferred both through theoretical work and the observed bimodal distribution of small planet…
We consider the evaporation of close in planets by the star's intrinsic EUV and X-ray radiation. We calculate evaporation rates by solving the hydrodynamical problem for planetary evaporation including heating from both X-ray and EUV…
Recent progress in transit photometry opened a new window to the interior of super-Earths. From measured radii and masses, we can infer planetary internal compositions. It has been recently revealed that super-Earths are diverse in…
Using data from the California-Kepler-Survey (CKS) we study trends in planetary properties with host star metallicity for close-in planets. By incorporating knowledge of the properties of the planetary radius gap identified by the CKS…
The size distribution of exoplanets is a bimodal division into two groups: Rocky planet (<2 Earth radii) and water-rich planet (>2 Earth radii) with or without gaseous envelope.
We demonstrate that planet formation via pebble accretion is sensitive to external photoevaporation of the outer disc. In pebble accretion, planets grow by accreting from a flux of solids (pebbles) that radially drift inwards from the…
Many multiple-planet systems have been found by the Kepler transit survey and various radial velocity (RV) surveys. Kepler planets show an asymmetric feature, namely, there are small but significant deficits/excesses of planet pairs with…
The evidence for a shortage of exosolar planets with semimajor axes -1.1 <= log (a/AU) <= -0.2 is investigated. It is shown that this valley results from a gap in the radial distribution of planets, orbiting stars with masses M >= 1.2…
We analyze the distribution of extrasolar planets (both confirmed and Kepler candidates) according to their orbital periods P and planetary radii R. Among confirmed planets, we find compelling evidence for a paucity of bodies with 3 < R <…
Planet-forming circumstellar disks are a fundamental part of the star formation process. Since stars form in a hierarchical fashion in groups of up to hundreds or thousands, the UV radiation environment that these disks are exposed to can…
The research of exoplanets has entered an era in which we characterize extrasolar planets. This has become possible with measurements of radii and luminosities. Meanwhile, radial velocity surveys discover also very low-mass planets. Uniting…
Formation of planets in the Neptune size range with low-mass, but voluminous, H_2/He gaseous envelopes is modeled by detailed numerical simulations according to the core-nucleated accretion scenario. Formation locations ranging from 0.5 to…
We present results from a quantitative spectroscopic analysis conducted on archival Keck/HIRES high-resolution spectra from the California-$Kepler$ Survey (CKS) sample of transiting planetary host stars identified from the $Kepler$ mission.…
Planets intermediate in size between the Earth and Neptune, and orbiting closer to their host stars than Mercury does the Sun, are the most common type of planet revealed by exoplanet surveys over the last quarter century. Results from…
Sub-Neptune planets formed in the protoplanetary disk accreted hydrogen-helium (H,He) envelopes. Planet formation models of sub-Neptunes formed by pebble accretion result in small rocky cores surrounded by polluted H,He envelopes where most…
We investigated the underlying architecture of planetary systems by deriving the distribution of planet multiplicity (number of planets) and the distribution of orbital inclinations based on the sample of planet candidates discovered by 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 Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has been highly successful in detecting planets in close orbits around low-mass stars, particularly M dwarfs. This presents a valuable opportunity to conduct detailed population studies to…
The ubiquity of M dwarfs, combined with the relative ease of detecting terrestrial-mass planets around them, has made them prime targets for finding and characterising planets in the "Habitable Zone" (HZ). However, Kepler finds that…
To date, two planetary systems have been discovered with close-in, terrestrial-mass planets (< 5-10 Earth masses). Many more such discoveries are anticipated in the coming years with radial velocity and transit searches. Here we investigate…