Related papers: On the low-mass planethood criterion
A mechanism is introduced to reduce a large cosmological constant to a sufficiently small value consistent with observational upper limit. The basic ingradient in this mechanism is a distinction which has been made between the two unit…
The Cosmological Principle in it's various versions states that: (i) the Galaxy does not occupy a particular position, (ii) the Universe is homogeneous and isotropic. This statement does not agree with the recent astronomical observations…
Many of the planets discovered by the Kepler satellite are close orbiting Super-Earths or Mini-Neptunes. Such objects exhibit a wide spread of densities for similar masses. One possible explanation for this density spread is giant…
Recent analysis of the Doppler shift oscillations of the light from extra-solar planetary systems indicate that some of these systems have more than one large planet. In this case it has been shown that the masses of these planets can be…
The dominant paradigm in assigning "habitability"' to terrestrial planets is to define a circumstellar habitable zone: the locus of orbital radii in which the planet is neither too hot nor too cold for life as we know it. One dimensional…
In the last few years astronomical surveys have expanded the reach of planetary science into the realm of small and dense extrasolar worlds. These share a number of characteristics with the terrestrial and icy planetary objects of the Solar…
This paper outlines a simple approach to evaluate habitability of terrestrial planets by assuming different types of planetary atmospheres and using corresponding model calculations. Our approach can be applied for current and future…
Astrometry as a technique has so far proved of limited utility when employed as either a follow-up tool or to independently search for planetary mass companions orbiting nearby stars. However, this is bound to change during the next decade.…
The conditions that a planet must fulfill to be habitable are not precisely known. However, it is comparatively easier to define conditions under which a planet is very likely not habitable. Finding such conditions is important as it can…
Recently, the Kepler spacecraft has detected a sizable aggregate of objects, characterized by giant-planet-like radii and modest levels of stellar irradiation. With the exception of a handful of objects, the physical nature, and…
Provided that sufficient resources are deployed, we can look forward to an extraordinary future in which we will characterize potentially habitable planets. Until now, we have had to base interpretations of observations on habitability…
The ever-expanding catalog of detected super-Earths calls for theoretical studies of their properties in the case of a substantial water layer. This work considers such water planets with a range of masses and water mass fractions (2 to 5…
The "cosmic shoreline," a semi-empirical relation that separates airless worlds from worlds with atmospheres as proposed by K. J. Zahnle & D. C. Catling, is now guiding large-scale JWST surveys aimed at detecting rocky exoplanet…
A law of semi-major axes in the Solar system is described. The proposed law is recommended as an additional criterion for planet definition as it represents a generating function of planetary distances.
A primary goal of characterizing exoplanet atmospheres is to constrain planetary bulk properties, such as their metallicity, C/O ratio, and intrinsic heat. However, there are significant uncertainties in many aspects of atmospheric physics,…
As the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres proceeds, providing insights into atmospheric chemistry and composition, a key question is how much deeper into the planet we might be able to see from its atmospheric properties alone. For…
Materials at high pressures and temperatures are of great interest for planetary science and astrophysics, warm dense matter physics, and inertial confinement fusion research. Planetary structure models rely on our understanding of the…
The recently suggested notion of total mass density for closed universes is extended to closed universes with a positive cosmological constant. Assuming that the matter fields satisfy the dominant energy condition, it is shown that the…
I present here a new, indivisible planetary science paradigm, a wholly self-consistent vision of the nature of matter in the Solar System, and dynamics and energy sources of planets. Massive-core planets formed by condensing and raining-out…
In this short note we explain how one can use established results to prove various versions of the positive mass theorem for initial data sets with boundary, in dimensions less than 8.