Tracing the Winds: A Uniform Interpretation of Helium Escape in Exoplanets from Archival Spectroscopic Observations
Over the past decade, observations of evaporating exoplanets have become increasingly common, driven by the discovery of the near-infrared helium-triplet line as a powerful probe of atmospheric escape. This process significantly influences the evolution of exoplanets, particularly those smaller than...
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada6b9 |
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| author | Patrick McCreery Leonardo A. Dos Santos Néstor Espinoza Romain Allart James Kirk |
| author_facet | Patrick McCreery Leonardo A. Dos Santos Néstor Espinoza Romain Allart James Kirk |
| author_sort | Patrick McCreery |
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| description | Over the past decade, observations of evaporating exoplanets have become increasingly common, driven by the discovery of the near-infrared helium-triplet line as a powerful probe of atmospheric escape. This process significantly influences the evolution of exoplanets, particularly those smaller than Jupiter. Both theoretical and observational studies have aimed to determine how efficiently exoplanets convert their host star's X-ray and ultraviolet (XUV) radiation into atmospheric mass loss. In this study, we employ the open-source atmospheric escape model p-winds to systematically analyze all publicly available helium triplet spectroscopic detections related to exoplanetary atmospheric escape. Our findings indicate that the retrieved outflows strongly depend on the ratio of XUV flux to planetary density ( F _XUV / ρ _p ), supporting the theoretical framework of energy-limited mass loss. We constrain population-level photoevaporative efficiencies to 0.34 ± 0.13 and 0.75 ± 0.21 for hydrogen-helium fractions of 0.90 and 0.99, respectively. These results offer new insights into exoplanetary atmospheric evolution and will aid future studies on exoplanet population demographics. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-db940194168f444e80ef256e1eb1448b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-db940194168f444e80ef256e1eb1448b2025-02-07T08:55:27ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01980112510.3847/1538-4357/ada6b9Tracing the Winds: A Uniform Interpretation of Helium Escape in Exoplanets from Archival Spectroscopic ObservationsPatrick McCreery0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0473-6931Leonardo A. Dos Santos1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2248-3838Néstor Espinoza2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9513-1449Romain Allart3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1199-9759James Kirk4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4207-6615Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; pmccree2@jhu.eduDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; pmccree2@jhu.edu; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; pmccree2@jhu.edu; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USADépartement de Physique, Institut Trottier de Recherche sur les Exoplanètes, Université de Montréal , Montréal, Québec, H3T 1J4, CanadaDepartment of Physics, Imperial College London , Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ, UKOver the past decade, observations of evaporating exoplanets have become increasingly common, driven by the discovery of the near-infrared helium-triplet line as a powerful probe of atmospheric escape. This process significantly influences the evolution of exoplanets, particularly those smaller than Jupiter. Both theoretical and observational studies have aimed to determine how efficiently exoplanets convert their host star's X-ray and ultraviolet (XUV) radiation into atmospheric mass loss. In this study, we employ the open-source atmospheric escape model p-winds to systematically analyze all publicly available helium triplet spectroscopic detections related to exoplanetary atmospheric escape. Our findings indicate that the retrieved outflows strongly depend on the ratio of XUV flux to planetary density ( F _XUV / ρ _p ), supporting the theoretical framework of energy-limited mass loss. We constrain population-level photoevaporative efficiencies to 0.34 ± 0.13 and 0.75 ± 0.21 for hydrogen-helium fractions of 0.90 and 0.99, respectively. These results offer new insights into exoplanetary atmospheric evolution and will aid future studies on exoplanet population demographics.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada6b9Exoplanet atmospheresExtrasolar gaseous planetsInfrared astronomyExoplanet evolution |
| spellingShingle | Patrick McCreery Leonardo A. Dos Santos Néstor Espinoza Romain Allart James Kirk Tracing the Winds: A Uniform Interpretation of Helium Escape in Exoplanets from Archival Spectroscopic Observations The Astrophysical Journal Exoplanet atmospheres Extrasolar gaseous planets Infrared astronomy Exoplanet evolution |
| title | Tracing the Winds: A Uniform Interpretation of Helium Escape in Exoplanets from Archival Spectroscopic Observations |
| title_full | Tracing the Winds: A Uniform Interpretation of Helium Escape in Exoplanets from Archival Spectroscopic Observations |
| title_fullStr | Tracing the Winds: A Uniform Interpretation of Helium Escape in Exoplanets from Archival Spectroscopic Observations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tracing the Winds: A Uniform Interpretation of Helium Escape in Exoplanets from Archival Spectroscopic Observations |
| title_short | Tracing the Winds: A Uniform Interpretation of Helium Escape in Exoplanets from Archival Spectroscopic Observations |
| title_sort | tracing the winds a uniform interpretation of helium escape in exoplanets from archival spectroscopic observations |
| topic | Exoplanet atmospheres Extrasolar gaseous planets Infrared astronomy Exoplanet evolution |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada6b9 |
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