The mass-radius relation of intermediate-mass planets outlined by hydrodynamic escape and thermal evolution

TL;DR

This study models the mass-radius distribution of intermediate-mass exoplanets by combining planetary evolution, atmospheric escape, and stellar radiation effects, successfully reproducing observed data and identifying outliers with different formation histories.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive modeling approach that integrates hydrodynamic escape, thermal evolution, and stellar rotation histories to explain the observed exoplanet mass-radius distribution.

Findings

Predicted radius spread matches observations for most planets.

Identified two groups of outliers: inflated Saturn-mass planets and dense warm sub-Neptunes.

Low-mass planet characteristics are strongly influenced by atmospheric escape and stellar evolution.

Abstract

We employ planetary evolution modeling to reproduce the MR distribution of the 198 so far detected planets with mass and radius measured to the <45% and <15% level, respectively, and less massive than 108Me. We simultaneously account for atmospheric escape, based on the results of hydrodynamic models, and thermal evolution, based on planetary structure evolution models. Since high-energy stellar radiation affects atmospheric evolution, we account for the entire range of possible stellar rotation histories. To set the planetary parameters at formation, we use analytical approximations based on formation models. Finally, we build a grid of synthetic planets with parameters reflecting those of the observed distribution. The predicted radius spread reproduces well the observed MR distribution, except for two distinct groups of outliers (~20% of the population). The first one consists of close-in Saturn-mass planets with Jupiter-like radii for which we underpredict the radius likely because it lacks additional heating similar to that responsible for inflation in hot Jupiters. The second group consists of warm sub-Neptunes, which should host massive primordial H-dominated atmospheres, but instead present high densities indicative of small gaseous envelopes. This suggests that their formation, internal structure, and evolution are different from that of atmospheric evolution through the escape of H-dominated envelopes accreted onto rocky cores. The observed characteristics of low-mass planets (<10-15Me) strongly depend on the impact of atmospheric escape, and thus on the evolution of the host star, while primordial parameters are less relevant. Instead, for more massive planets, the parameters at formation play the dominant role in shaping the final MR distribution.