Short period (<50 days) low-mass (<10Mearth) exoplanets are abundant and the few of them whose radius and mass have been measured already reveal a diversity in composition. Some of these exoplanets are found on eccentric orbits and are subjected to s
trong tides affecting their rotation and resulting in significant tidal heating. Within this population, some planets are likely to be depleted in volatiles and have no atmosphere. We model the thermal emission of these Super Mercuries to study the signatures of rotation and tidal dissipation on their infrared light curve. We compute the time-dependent temperature map at the surface and in the subsurface of the planet and the resulting disk-integrated emission spectrum received by a distant observer for any observation geometry. We calculate the illumination of the planetary surface for any Keplerian orbit and rotation. We include the internal tidal heat flow, vertical heat diffusion in the subsurface and generate synthetic light curves. We show that the different rotation periods predicted by tidal models (spin-orbit resonances, pseudo-synchronization) produce different photometric signatures, which are observable provided that the thermal inertia of the surface is high, like that of solid or melted rocks (but not regolith). Tidal dissipation can also directly affect the light curves and make the inference of the rotation more difficult or easier depending on the existence of hot spots on the surface. Infrared light curve measurement with the James Webb Space Telescope and EChO can be used to infer exoplanets rotation periods and dissipation rates and thus to test tidal models. This data will also constrain the nature of the (sub)surface by constraining the thermal inertia.
Low-mass objects embedded in isothermal protoplanetary discs are known to suffer rapid inward Type I migration. In non-isothermal discs, recent work has shown that a decreasing radial profile of the disc entropy can lead to a strong positive corotati
on torque which can significantly slow down or reverse Type I migration in laminar viscous disc models. It is not clear however how this picture changes in turbulent disc models. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of turbulence on the torque experienced by a low-mass planet embedded in a non-isothermal protoplanetary disc. We particularly focus on the role of turbulence on the corotation torque whose amplitude depends on the efficiency of diffusion processes in the planets horseshoe region. We performed 2D numerical simulations using a grid-based hydrodynamical code in which turbulence is modelled as stochastic forcing. In order to provide estimations for the viscous and thermal diffusion coefficients as a function of the amplitude of turbulence, we first set up non-isothermal disc models for different values of the amplitude of the turbulent forcing. We then include a low-mass planet and determine the evolution of its running time-averaged torque. We show that in non-isothermal discs, the entropy-related corotation torque can indeed remain unsaturated in the presence of turbulence. For turbulence amplitudes that do not strongly affect the disc temperature profile, we find that the running time-averaged torque experienced by an embedded protoplanet is in fairly good agreement with laminar disc models with appropriate values for the thermal and viscous diffusion coefficients. In discs with turbulence driven by stochastic forcing, the corotation torque therefore behaves similarly as in laminar viscous discs and can be responsible for significantly slowing down or reversing Type I migration.
We investigate the evolution of a system of two super-Earths with masses < 4 Earth masses embedded in a turbulent protoplanetary disk. The aim is to examine whether or not resonant trapping can occur and be maintained in presence of turbulence and ho
w this depends on the amplitude of the stochastic density fluctuations in the disk. We have performed 2D numerical simulations using a grid-based hydrodynamical code in which turbulence is modelled as stochastic forcing. We assume that the outermost planet is initially located just outside the position of the 3:2 mean motion resonance (MMR) with the inner one and we study the dependance of the resonance stability with the amplitude of the stochastic forcing. For systems of two equal-mass planets we find that in disk models with an effective viscous stress parameter {alpha} 10^{-3}, damping effects due to type I migration can counteract the effects of diffusion of the resonant angles, in such a way that the 3:2 MMR can possibly remain stable over the disk lifetime. For systems of super-Earths with mass ratio q=m_i/m_o < 1/2, where m_i (m_o) is the mass of the innermost (outermost) planet, the 3:2 MMR is broken in turbulent disks with effective viscous stresses 2x10^{-4}< {alpha}< 10^{-3} but the planets become locked in stronger p+1:p resonances, with p increasing as the value for {alpha} increases. For {alpha}> 2x10^{-3}, the evolution can eventually involve temporary capture in a 8:7 commensurability but no stable MMR is formed. Our results suggest that for values of the viscous stress parameter typical to those generated by MHD turbulence, MMRs between two super-Earths are likely to be disrupted by stochastic density fluctuations. For lower levels of turbulence however, as is the case in presence of a dead-zone, resonant trapping can be maintained in systems with moderate values of the planet mass ratio.
Abridged: We detail and benchmark two sophisticated chemical models developed by the Heidelberg and Bordeaux astrochemistry groups. The main goal of this study is to elaborate on a few well-described tests for state-of-the-art astrochemical codes cov
ering a range of physical conditions and chemical processes, in particular those aimed at constraining current and future interferometric observations of protoplanetary disks. We consider three physical models: a cold molecular cloud core, a hot core, and an outer region of a T Tauri disk. Our chemical network (for both models) is based on the original gas-phase osu_03_2008 ratefile and includes gas-grain interactions and a set of surface reactions for the H-, O-, C-, S-, and N-bearing molecules. The benchmarking is performed with the increasing complexity of the considered processes: (1) the pure gas-phase chemistry, (2) the gas-phase chemistry with accretion and desorption, and (3) the full gas-grain model with surface reactions. Using atomic initial abundances with heavily depleted metals and hydrogen in its molecular form, the chemical evolution is modeled within 10^9 years. The time-dependent abundances calculated with the two chemical models are essentially the same for all considered physical cases and for all species, including the most complex polyatomic ions and organic molecules. This result however required a lot of efforts to make all necessary details consistent through the model runs, e.g. definition of the gas particle density, density of grain surface sites, the strength and shape of the UV radiation field, etc. The reference models and the benchmark setup, along with the two chemical codes and resulting time-dependent abundances are made publicly available in the Internet: http://www.mpia.de/homes/semenov/Chemistry_benchmark/home.html
