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Register a new userUnveiling the Planet Population at Birth
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The radius distribution of small, close-in exoplanets has recently been shown to be bimodal. The photoevaporation model predicted this bimodality. In the photoevaporation scenario, some planets are completely stripped of their primordial H/He atmospheres, whereas others retain them. Comparisons between the photoevaporation model and observed planetary populations have the power to unveil details of the planet population inaccessible by standard observations, such as the core mass distribution and core composition. In this work, we present a hierarchical inference analysis on the distribution of close-in exoplanets using forward-models of photoevaporation evolution. We use this model to constrain the planetary distributions for core composition, core mass and initial atmospheric mass fraction. We find that the core-mass distribution is peaked, with a peak-mass of $sim 4$M$_oplus$. The bulk core-composition is consistent with a rock/iron mixture that is ice-poor and ``Earth-like; the spread in core-composition is found to be narrow ($lesssim 16%$ variation in iron-mass fraction at the 2$sigma$ level) and consistent with zero. This result favours core formation in a water/ice poor environment. We find the majority of planets accreted a H/He envelope with a typical mass fraction of $sim 4%$; only a small fraction did not accrete large amounts of H/He and were ``born-rocky. We find four-times as many super-Earths were formed through photoevaporation, as formed without a large H/He atmosphere. Finally, we find core-accretion theory over-predicts the amount of H/He cores would have accreted by a factor of $sim 5$, pointing to additional mass-loss mechanisms (e.g. ``boil-off) or modifications to core-accretion theory.
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With the increasing number of exoplanets discovered, statistical properties of the population as a whole become unique constraints on planet formation models provided a link between the description of the detailed processes playing a role in this formation and the observed population can be established. Planet population synthesis provides such a link. The approach allows to study how different physical models of individual processes (e.g., proto-planetary disc structure and evolution, planetesimal formation, gas accretion, migration, etc.) affect the overall properties of the population of emerging planets. By necessity, planet population synthesis relies on simplified descriptions of complex processes. These descriptions can be obtained from more detailed specialised simulations of these processes. The objective of this chapter is twofold: 1) provide an overview of the physics entering in the two main approaches to planet population synthesis and 2) present some of the results achieved as well as illustrate how it can be used to extract constraints on the models and to help interpret observations.
It is believed that Al-26, a short-lived (t1/2 = 0.73 Ma) and now extinct radionuclide, was uniformly distributed in the nascent Solar System with the initial Al-26/Al-27 ratio of ~5.2times10-5, suggesting its external stellar origin. However, the stellar source of Al-26 and the manner in which it was injected into the solar system remain controversial: the Al-26 could have been produced by an asymptotic giant branch star, a supernova, or a Wolf-Rayet star and injected either into the protosolar molecular cloud or protoplanetary disk. Corundum (Al2O3) is thermodynamically predicted to be the first condensate from a cooling gas of solar composition. Here we show that micron-sized corundum condensates from O-16-rich gas (Big Delta O-17 ~ -25%) of solar composition recorded heterogeneous distribution of Al-26 at the birth of the solar system: the inferred initial Al-26/Al-27 ratio ranges from ~6.5x10-5 to <2x10-6; ~50% of the corundum grains measured are Al-26-poor. Other Al-26-poor, O-16-rich refractory objects include grossite (CaAl4O7)- and hibonite(CaAl12O19)-rich calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) in CH chondrites, platy hibonite crystals in CM chondrites, and FUN (fractionation and unidentified nuclear isotopic anomalies) CAIs in CV, CO, and CR chondrites. Considering the apparently early and short duration (<0.3 Ma) of condensation of refractory O-16-rich solids in the solar system, we infer that Al-26 was injected into the collapsing protosolar molecular cloud and later homogenized in the protoplanetary disk. The apparent lack of correlation between Al-26 abundance and O-isotope compositions of corundum grains put important constraints on the stellar source of Al-26 in the solar system.
Gamma Ray Bursts are detectable in the gamma-ray band if their jets are oriented towards the observer. However, for each GRB with a typical theta_jet, there should be ~2/theta_jet^2 bursts whose emission cone is oriented elsewhere in space. These off-axis bursts can be eventually detected when, due to the deceleration of their relativistic jets, the beaming angle becomes comparable to the viewing angle. Orphan Afterglows (OA) should outnumber the current population of bursts detected in the gamma-ray band even if they have not been conclusively observed so far at any frequency. We compute the expected flux of the population of orphan afterglows in the mm, optical and X-ray bands through a population synthesis code of GRBs and the standard afterglow emission model. We estimate the detection rate of OA by on-going and forthcoming surveys. The average duration of OA as transients above a given limiting flux is derived and described with analytical expressions: in general OA should appear as daily transients in optical surveys and as monthly/yearly transients in the mm/radio band. We find that ~ 2 OA yr^-1 could already be detected by Gaia and up to 20 OA yr^-1 could be observed by the ZTF survey. A larger number of 50 OA yr^-1 should be detected by LSST in the optical band. For the X-ray band, ~ 26 OA yr^-1 could be detected by the eROSITA. For the large population of OA detectable by LSST, the X-ray and optical follow up of the light curve (for the brightest cases) and/or the extensive follow up of their emission in the mm and radio band could be the key to disentangle their GRB nature from other extragalactic transients of comparable flux density.
We report a new free-floating planet (FFP) candidate, KMT-2017-BLG-2820, with Einstein radius $theta_esimeq 6,muas$, lens-source relative proper motion $mu_rel simeq 8,masyr$, and Einstein timescale $t_e=6.5,$hr. It is the third FFP candidate found in an ongoing study of giant-source finite-source point-lens (FSPL) events in the KMTNet data base, and the sixth FSPL FFP candidate overall. We find no significant evidence for a host. Based on their timescale distributions and detection rates, we argue that five of these six FSPL FFP candidates are drawn from the same population as the six point-source point-lens (PSPL) FFP candidates found by citet{mroz17} in the OGLE-IV data base. The $theta_e$ distribution of the FSPL FFPs implies that they are either sub-Jovian planets in the bulge or super-Earths in the disk. However, the apparent Einstein Desert ($10latheta_e/muasla 30$) would argue for the latter. Whether each of the 12 (6 FSPL and 6 PSPL) FFP candidates is truly an FFP, or simply a very wide-separation planet, can be determined at first adaptive optics (AO) light on 30m telescopes, and earlier for some. If the latter, a second epoch of AO observations could measure the projected planet-host separation with a precision ${cal O}(10,au)$. At the present time, the balance of evidence favors the unbound-planet hypothesis.
The CoRoT (COnvection, internal ROtation and Transiting planets) space mission was launched in the last days of 2006, becoming the first major space mission dedicated to the search for and study of exoplanets, as well as doing the same for asteroseismological studies of stars. Designed as a small mission, it became highly successful, with, among other things discovering the first planet proved by the measurements of its radius and mass to be definitely Rocky or Earth like in its composition and the first close-in brown dwarf with a measured radius. Designed for a lifetime of 3 years it survived in a 900 km orbit around the Earth for 6 years discovering in total 37 planetary systems or brown dwarfs, as well as about one hundred planet candidates and 2269 eclipsing binaires, detached or in contact. In total CoRoT acquired 177 454 light curves, varying in duration from about 30 - 150 days. CoRoT was also a pioneer in the organisation and archiving of such an exoplanetary survey. The development and utilization of this spacecraft has left a legacy of knowledge, both as what concerns the scientific objectives as well as the technical know-how, that is currently being utilized in the construction of the European CHEOPS and PLATO missions.
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