Sculpting the valley in the radius distribution of small exoplanets as a by-product of planet formation: the core-powered mass-loss mechanism

• Published in: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Vol. 487; no. 1; pp. 24 - 33
• Main Authors: Gupta, Akash, Schlichting, Hilke E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.07.2019
• Subjects: planets and satellites: physical evolution; planets and satellites: atmospheres; planets and satellites: general; planets and satellites: formation; planets and satellites: composition

Recent observations revealed a bimodal radius distribution of small, short-period exoplanets with a paucity in their occurrence, a radius ‘valley’, around 1.5–2.0 R⊕. In this work, we investigate the effect of a planet’s own cooling luminosity on its thermal evolution and atmospheric mass loss (core...