Exoplanets Around Red Giants: Distribution and Habitability

TL;DR

This study analyzes the distribution and habitability of exoplanets orbiting Red Giant stars, updating existing models and identifying potential habitable planets using current data and suggesting future detection methods.

Contribution

It updates the power law relation between planet mass and stellar radius and provides new insights into habitable zones around Red Giants.

Findings

10 exoplanets in the optimistic habitable zone

5 exoplanets in the conservative habitable zone

Potential for discovering more habitable exoplanets with advanced methods

Abstract

As the search for exoplanets continues, more are being discovered orbiting Red Giant stars. We use current data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive to investigate planet distribution around Red Giant stars and their presence in the host's habitable zone. As well, we update the power law relation between planet mass and stellar radius found in previous studies and provide more detailed investigations on this topic. Ten Red Giant-hosted exoplanets are found to be in the optimistically calculated habitable zone, five of which are in a more conservatively calculated habitable zone. We believe additional exoplanets can be found in habitable zones around Red Giants using the direct imaging and other methods, along with more powerful detection instrumentation.