A link between rocky exoplanet composition and stellar age

TL;DR

This study finds a correlation between the composition of rocky exoplanets and the ages of their host stars, indicating that stellar chemical evolution influences planetary formation and diversity over billions of years.

Contribution

It presents a homogeneous analysis linking rocky exoplanet compositions to stellar ages, revealing a trend of denser planets around younger stars, which was not previously established.

Findings

Denser rocky planets are found around younger stars.

Exoplanet composition correlates with stellar age.

Stellar chemical evolution affects planetary diversity.

Abstract

Interior compositions are key for our understanding of Earth-like exoplanets. The composition of the core can influence the presence of a magnetic dynamo and the strength of gravity on the planetary surface, both of which heavily impact thermal and possible biological processes and thus the habitability for life and its evolution on the planet. However, detailed measurements of the planetary interiors are extremely challenging for small exoplanets, and existing data suggest a wide diversity in planet compositions. Hitherto, only certain photospheric chemical abundances of the host stars have been considered as tracers to explain the diversity of exoplanet compositions. Here we present a homogeneous analysis of stars hosting rocky exoplanets, with ages between 2 and 14 Gyr, revealing a correlation between rocky exoplanet compositions and the ages of the planetary systems. Denser rocky planets are found around younger stars. This suggests that the compositional diversity of rocky exoplanets can be linked to the ages of their host stars. We interpret this to be a result of chemical evolution of stars in the Milky Way, which modifies the material out of which stars and planets form. The results imply that rocky planets which form today, at similar galactocentric radii, may have different formation conditions, and thus different properties than planets which formed several billion years ago, such as the Earth.