Astronomers have uncovered evidence of how the enigmatic gap in the size distribution of exoplanets at around two Earth radii emerges. Their computer simulations demonstrate that the migration of icy, so-called sub-Neptunes into the inner regions of their planetary systems could account for this phenomenon.
As they draw closer to the central star, evaporating water ice forms an atmosphere that makes the planets appear larger than in their frozen state. Simultaneously, smaller rocky planets gradually lose a portion of their original gaseous envelope, causing their measured radius to shrink over time.
"Six years ago, a reanalysis of data from the Kepler space telescope revealed a shortage of exoplanets with sizes around two Earth radii," Remo Burn explains, an exoplanet researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg.
Still, astronomers broadly agree that these planets possess significantly more extended atmospheres than rocky planets. Consequently, understanding how these sub-Neptunes' characteristics contribute to the radius gap has been uncertain.
At the same time, as already suggested in the previous picture, rocky planets 'shrink' by losing their atmosphere. Overall, both mechanisms produce a lack of planets with sizes around two Earth radii."The theoretical research of the Bern-Heidelberg group has already significantly advanced our understanding of the formation and composition of planetary systems in the past," explains MPIA Director Thomas Henning.
"It's remarkable how, as in this case, physical properties on molecular levels influence large-scale astronomical processes such as the formation of planetary atmospheres," Henning adds. Remo Burn, Christoph Mordasini, Lokesh Mishra, Jonas Haldemann, Julia Venturini, Alexandre Emsenhuber, Thomas Henning.Computer simulations by Rice University scientists and their collaborators are the first to integrate a model of planet formation and evolution that explains two puzzling observations of exoplanets ...
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