Orbital Migration Through Atmospheric Mass Loss
Atmospheric mass loss is thought to have strongly shaped the sample of close-in exoplanets. These atmospheres should be lost isotropically, leading to no net migration on the planetary orbit. However, strong stellar winds can funnel the escaping atmosphere into a tail trailing the planet. We derive...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2024-01-01
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| Series: | The Astronomical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad944f |
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| _version_ | 1850061746505515008 |
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| author | Benjamin Hanf William Kincaid Hilke Schlichting Livan Cappiello Daniel Tamayo |
| author_facet | Benjamin Hanf William Kincaid Hilke Schlichting Livan Cappiello Daniel Tamayo |
| author_sort | Benjamin Hanf |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Atmospheric mass loss is thought to have strongly shaped the sample of close-in exoplanets. These atmospheres should be lost isotropically, leading to no net migration on the planetary orbit. However, strong stellar winds can funnel the escaping atmosphere into a tail trailing the planet. We derive a simple kinematic model of the gravitational interaction between the planet and this anisotropic wind, and derive expressions for the expected migration of the planet. Over the expected range of parameters, we find typical migrations of a few tenths to a few percent inward. We argue that this modest migration may be observable for planet pairs near mean motion resonances, which would provide an independent observational constraint on atmospheric mass loss models. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4c92b3f6357f49f2a38026b01b38ea00 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1538-3881 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astronomical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-4c92b3f6357f49f2a38026b01b38ea002025-08-20T02:50:08ZengIOP PublishingThe Astronomical Journal1538-38812024-01-0116911910.3847/1538-3881/ad944fOrbital Migration Through Atmospheric Mass LossBenjamin Hanf0https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5746-4179William Kincaid1https://orcid.org/0009-0007-8964-8354Hilke Schlichting2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0298-8089Livan Cappiello3Daniel Tamayo4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9908-8705Pomona College , 333 N College Way, Claremont, CA 91711, USAHarvey Mudd College , 301 Platt Boulevard, Claremont, CA 91711, USAUCLA , 595 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USAHarvey Mudd College , 301 Platt Boulevard, Claremont, CA 91711, USAHarvey Mudd College , 301 Platt Boulevard, Claremont, CA 91711, USAAtmospheric mass loss is thought to have strongly shaped the sample of close-in exoplanets. These atmospheres should be lost isotropically, leading to no net migration on the planetary orbit. However, strong stellar winds can funnel the escaping atmosphere into a tail trailing the planet. We derive a simple kinematic model of the gravitational interaction between the planet and this anisotropic wind, and derive expressions for the expected migration of the planet. Over the expected range of parameters, we find typical migrations of a few tenths to a few percent inward. We argue that this modest migration may be observable for planet pairs near mean motion resonances, which would provide an independent observational constraint on atmospheric mass loss models.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad944fExoplanet migration |
| spellingShingle | Benjamin Hanf William Kincaid Hilke Schlichting Livan Cappiello Daniel Tamayo Orbital Migration Through Atmospheric Mass Loss The Astronomical Journal Exoplanet migration |
| title | Orbital Migration Through Atmospheric Mass Loss |
| title_full | Orbital Migration Through Atmospheric Mass Loss |
| title_fullStr | Orbital Migration Through Atmospheric Mass Loss |
| title_full_unstemmed | Orbital Migration Through Atmospheric Mass Loss |
| title_short | Orbital Migration Through Atmospheric Mass Loss |
| title_sort | orbital migration through atmospheric mass loss |
| topic | Exoplanet migration |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad944f |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT benjaminhanf orbitalmigrationthroughatmosphericmassloss AT williamkincaid orbitalmigrationthroughatmosphericmassloss AT hilkeschlichting orbitalmigrationthroughatmosphericmassloss AT livancappiello orbitalmigrationthroughatmosphericmassloss AT danieltamayo orbitalmigrationthroughatmosphericmassloss |