Related papers: On the low-mass planethood criterion
The scattering of small bodies by planets is an important dynamical process in planetary systems. We present an analytical model to describe this process using the simplifying assumption that each particle's dynamics is dominated by a…
The current IAU definition of "planet" is problematic because it is vague and excludes exoplanets. Here, we describe aspects of quantitative planetary taxonomy and examine the results of unsupervised clustering of Solar System bodies to…
A simple metric can be used to determine whether a planet or exoplanet can clear its orbital zone during a characteristic time scale, such as the lifetime of the host star on the main sequence. This criterion requires only estimates of star…
Amongst the many hundreds of transiting planet candidates discovered by the Kepler Mission, one finds a large number of candidates with sizes between that of the Earth and Neptune. The composition of these worlds is not immediately obvious…
With recent advances in exoplanet observational techniques enabling the discovery of increasingly smaller planets, a crucial question emerges in the search for habitable planets: how small can a planet be and still maintain an atmosphere?…
By plotting empirical chemical element abundances on Earth relative to the Sun and normalized to silicon versus their first ionization potentials, we confirm the existence of a correlation reported earlier. To explain this, we develop a…
In the past few years, the number of confirmed planets has grown above 2000. It is clear that they represent a diversity of structures not seen in our own solar system. In addition to very detailed interior modeling, it is valuable to have…
Various ``cosmic shorelines" have been proposed to delineate which planets have atmospheres. The fates of individual planet atmospheres may be set by a complex sea of growth and loss processes, driven by unmeasurable environmental factors…
Planetary atmospheres, and models of them, are discussed from the viewpoint of condensed matter physics. Atmospheres are a form of condensed matter, and many interesting phenomena of condensed matter systems are realized by them. The…
Terrestrial planets in temperate orbits around very low mass stars are likely to have evolved in a very different way than solar system planets, and in particular Earth. However, because these are the first planets that are and will be…
A classification system is presented for characterizing the composition of planetary bodies. From mass-radius and mass-density relationships, planets may be broadly grouped into five composition classes identified as: Gas Giant, Rock-Ice…
The potential habitability of an exoplanet is traditionally assessed by determining if its orbit falls within the circumstellar `habitable zone' of its star, defined as the distance at which water could be liquid on the surface of a planet…
The physical principles governing the planetary atmospheres are briefly introduced in the first part of this chapter, moving from the examples of Solar System bodies. Namely, the concepts of collisional regime, balance equations,…
Determining planetary habitability is a complex matter, as the interplay between a planet's physical and atmospheric properties with stellar insolation has to be studied in a self consistent manner. Standardized atmospheric models for…
The recent discovery and initial characterization of sub-Neptune-sized exoplanets that receive stellar irradiance of approximately Earth's raised the prospect of finding habitable planets in the coming decade, because some of these…
We present a novel, model-independent framework for studying the architecture of an exoplanetary system at the system level. This framework allows us to characterise, quantify, and classify the architecture of an individual planetary…
The study of the interior of the planets requires the knowledge of how certain parameters, as radius and mean density, vary according to the planet mass. The aim of this work is to use known data of the Solar System Planets and Transiting…
Variation in the balance of forces that drive and resist tectonic plate motions allows small terrestrial planet to cooler slower than larger ones. Given that interior cooling affects surface environment, through volcanic/geologic activity,…
This chapter provides an overview of the basic concepts foundational to atmospheric physics and chemistry. We discuss the retention of atmospheres against thermal evaporation and the global energy balance of planets. We present simple…
How good is our universe at making habitable planets? The answer to this depends on which factors are important for life: Does a planet need to be Earth mass? Does it need to be inside the temperate zone? are systems with hot Jupiters…