Related papers: Orbital Migration through Atmospheric Mass Loss
The mass loss rates of planets undergoing core-powered escape are usually modeled using an isothermal Parker-type wind at the equilibrium temperature, $T_\mathrm{eq}$. However, the upper atmospheres of sub-Neptunes may not be isothermal if…
Bipolar planetary nebulae (PNe), as well as extreme elliptical PNe are formed through the influence of a stellar companion. But half of all PN progenitors are not influenced by any stellar companion, and, as I show here, are expected to…
The great majority of exoplanets discovered so far are orbiting cool, low-mass stars whose properties are relatively similar to the Sun. However, the stellar magnetism of these stars can be significantly different from the solar one, both…
Stellar evolution models of massive stars are very sensitive to the adopted mass-loss scheme. The magnitude and evolution of mass-loss rates significantly affect the main sequence evolution, and the properties of post-main sequence objects,…
Measurements of stellar mass loss rates are used to assess how wind strength varies with coronal activity and age for solar-like stars. Mass loss generally increases with activity, but we find evidence that winds suddenly weaken at a…
The winds of low-mass stars carry away angular momentum and impact the atmospheres of surrounding planets. Determining the properties of these winds is necessary to understand the mass-loss history of the star and the evolution of…
The extent to which a magnetosphere protects its planetary atmosphere from stellar wind ablation depends upon how well it prevents energy and momentum exchange with the atmosphere and how well it traps otherwise escaping plasma. We focus on…
The process of planet conglomeration, which primarily unfolds in a geometrically thin disk of gas and dust, is often accompanied by dynamical excitation of the forming planets and planetesimals. The ensuing orbital crossing can lead to…
A planet orbiting in a disk of planetesimals can experience an instability in which it migrates to smaller orbital radii. Resonant interactions between the planet and planetesimals remove angular momentum from the planetesimals, increasing…
We develop a model for the wind properties of cool main-sequence stars, which comprises their wind ram pressures, mass fluxes, and terminal wind velocities. The wind properties are determined through a polytropic magnetised wind model,…
We investigate orbital resonances expected to arise when a system of two planets, with masses in the range 1-4 Earth masses, undergoes convergent migration while embedded in a section of gaseous disc where the flow is laminar. We consider…
Giant planets in circumstellar disks can migrate inward from their initial (formation) positions. Radial migration is caused by inward torques between the planet and the disk; by outward torques between the planet and the spinning star; and…
The photoionization-driven evaporation of planetary atmospheres has emerged as a potentially fundamental process for planets on short period orbits. While 1-D studies have proven the effectiveness of stellar fluxes at altering the…
Recent studies indicate that circumstellar disks exhibit weak turbulence, with their dynamics and evolution being primarily influenced by magnetic winds. However, most numerical studies have focused on planet-disk interactions in turbulent…
Planetary habitability is in part determined by the atmospheric evolution of a planet; one key component of such evolution is escape of heavy ions to space. Ion loss processes are sensitive to the plasma environment of the planet, dictated…
The dynamical interactions that occur in newly formed planetary systems may reflect the conditions occurring in the protoplanetary disk out of which they formed. With this in mind, we explore the attainment and maintenance of orbital…
Planetary rotation rate is a key parameter in determining atmospheric circulation and hence the spatial pattern of clouds. Since clouds can exert a dominant control on planetary radiation balance, rotation rate could be critical for…
We study the interaction between the atmospheres of Venus-like, non-magnetized exoplanets orbiting an M-dwarf star, and the stellar wind using a multi-species Magnetohydrodynaic (MHD) model. We focus our investigation on the effect of…
We present two-dimensional hydrodynamic models of thermally driven winds from highly irradiated, close-in extra-solar planets. We adopt a very simple treatment of the radiative heating processes at the base of the wind, and instead focus on…
We present a formalism for a first-order estimation of the magnetosphere radius of exoplanets orbiting stars in the range from 0.08 to 1.3 Mo. With this radius, we estimate the atmospheric surface that is not protected from stellar winds.…