Renata Frelikh

The debris disk orbiting the M star AU Microscopii (AU Mic) has a series of large-scale clumps that move away from the star at high velocities above the midplane on the southeast side. Two more bright features lie on the northwest side of the disk, localized below the midplane and moving toward the star. These clumps are only observed in scattered light, indicating that they affect small 0.2 μ m sized grains. We present a mechanism for emitting periodic dust clumps by appealing to stellar forces and an inclined, eccentric planet interacting with an exterior debris disk. In our best-matching simulations, the planet exerts an impulse on the disk every orbital period, generating periodic enhancements in dust above the midplane. We assume that the stellar wind only acts on grains once they reach a height above the midplane that exceeds a threshold value (a free parameter in our model), at which point they are accelerated outward. The behavior of periodic particle ejections and trajectories depends significantly on the planet’s mass, eccentricity, and inclination; separation between the planet and disk; and the ratio of stellar wind force to the star’s gravitational force ( β ). We find a promising qualitative match to observations with simulations that include an as-yet-undiscovered and observationally allowed planet with mass 2 M _J , semimajor axis between 3 and 4 au, eccentricity of 0.37, and inclination of 30 ^∘ , a ring of particles between 5 and 6 au, and a stellar wind height threshold of z _h = hr , where h ≈ 0.02. We visualize our simulation with surface brightness maps to compare with existing observations of AU Mic. We find that a value of β ≈ 1.8 accelerates the clumps radially outward at velocities that are comparable to the clumps seen in the AU Mic disk and produces features similar to those observed.

We develop a flexible one-dimensional code to model the escape of hydrogen and helium from a hot Jupiter as a result of photoionization from extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) radiation. We include stellar spectrum heating and ionization, radiative cooling by Ly α and H 3 + , heat conduction, tidal gravity, and a H–He reaction network, and account for the secondary ionization of species by photoelectrons. For a fiducial hot Jupiter, we uncover a three-layer structure: an H 3 + -cooled layer of molecular hydrogen at the base, enveloped by a Ly α -cooled layer of neutral hydrogen, which transitions into an ionized wind layer that is cooled by adiabatic expansion. The highest spectral energy photons are deposited in the molecular layer, where, after accounting for energy loss via photoelectrons and ionization, H 3 + is a substantial radiative coolant. We run a grid of models, varying the distance of our fiducial planet from the star. We find that heat conduction at the base starts to have an effect at distances ≳0.2 au, increasing the H 3 + cooling relative to the EUV input flux. At increasing stellocentric distances, the outflow becomes increasingly more neutral. The neutral hydrogen starts to decouple from the ionized outflow, free-streaming out. In pure H–He mini-Neptune/super-Earth simulations, the outflows are significantly cooler, allowing molecules to survive throughout the outflow, pointing toward the likely importance of molecular cooling in determining whether these planets can maintain massive atmospheres. The analysis in this paper provides a framework for understanding the impact of molecular radiative cooling on atmospheric outflows.

Exoplanetary systems host giant planets on substantially noncircular, close-in orbits. We propose that these eccentricities arise in a phase of giant impacts, analogous to the final stage of solar system assembly that formed Earth’s Moon. In this scenario, the planets scatter each other and collide, with corresponding mass growth as they merge. We numerically integrate an ensemble of systems with varying total planet mass, allowing for collisional growth, to show that (1) the high-eccentricity giants observed today may have formed preferentially in systems of higher initial total planet mass, and (2) the upper bound on the observed giant planet eccentricity distribution is consistent with planet–planet scattering. We predict that mergers will produce a population of high-mass giant planets between 1 and 8 au from their stars.

Exoplanetary systems host giant planets on substantially non-circular, close-in orbits. We propose that these eccentricities arise in a phase of giant impacts, analogous to the final stage of Solar System assembly that formed Earth's Moon. In this scenario, the planets scatter each other and collide, with corresponding mass growth as they merge. We numerically integrate an ensemble of systems with varying total planet mass, allowing for collisional growth, to show that (1) the high-eccentricity giants observed today may have formed preferentially in systems of higher initial total planet mass, and (2) the upper bound on the observed giant planet eccentricity distribution is consistent with planet-planet scattering. We predict that mergers will produce a population of high-mass giant planets between 1 and 8 au from their stars.

Uranus and Neptune are ice giants with ∼15% atmospheres by mass, which places them in a category intermediate between rocky planets and gas giants. These atmospheres are too massive to have been primarily outgassed, but they never underwent runaway gas accretion. The ice giants never reached critical core mass ( ) in a full gas disk, but their cores are , suggesting that their envelopes were mainly accreted at the end of the disk lifetime. Pebble accretion calls into question traditional slow atmospheric growth during this phase. We show that the full-sized ice giants predominantly accreted gas from a disk depleted by at least a factor of ∼100. Such a disk dissipates in ≲10⁵ years. Why would both cores stay subcritical for the entire ∼Myr disk lifetime, only to reach in the final 10⁵ years? This is fine tuned. Ice giants in the outer disk have atmospheric mass fractions comparable to the disk gas-to-solid ratio during the bulk of their gas accretion. This point in disk evolution coincides with a dynamical upheaval: the gas loses its ability to efficiently damp the core random velocities, allowing them to be gravitationally excited by Jupiter and Saturn. We suggest that the ice giants’ cores began growing on closer-in orbits (staying subcritical), and migrated out during this dynamical instability. There, their orbits circularized after accreting much of their mass in solids. Finally, they accreted their envelopes from a depleted nebula, where the sparseness of feeding-zone gas prevented runaway.