Deserts and pile-ups in the distribution of exoplanets due to photoevaporative disc clearing

Abstract

We present models of giant planet migration in evolving protoplanetary discs. We show that disc clearing by EUV photoevaporation can have a strong effect on the distribution of giant planet semi-major axes. During disc clearing planet migration is slowed or accelerated in the region where photoevaporation opens a gap in the disc, resulting in "deserts" where few giant planets are found and corresponding "pile-ups" at smaller and larger radii. However, the precise locations and sizes of these features are strong functions of the efficiency of planetary accretion, and therefore also strongly dependent on planet mass. We suggest that photoevaporative disc clearing may be responsible for the pile-up of ~Jupiter-mass planets at ~1AU seen in exoplanet surveys, and show that observations of the distribution of exoplanet semi-major axes can be used to test models of both planet migration and disc clearing.

5 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters

References in corpus (3)

• Exploring brown dwarf disks: A 1.3 mm survey in Taurus
• On corotation torques, horseshoe drag and the possibility of sustained stalled or outward protoplanetary migration
• The stellar mass-accretion rate relation in T Tauri stars and brown dwarfs

Cited by in corpus (41)

• The structure of protoplanetary discs around evolving young stars
• Origin of water in the inner Solar System: Planetesimals scattered inward during Jupiter and Saturn's rapid gas accretion
• Hints for a Turnover at the Snow Line in the Giant Planet Occurrence Rate
• The New Generation Planetary Population Synthesis (NGPPS). I. Bern global model of planet formation and evolution, model tests, and emerging planetary systems
• How drifting and evaporating pebbles shape giant planets I: Heavy element content and atmospheric C/O
• The newborn planet population emerging from ring-like structures in discs
• Tracing Slow Winds from T Tauri Stars via Low Velocity Forbidden Line Emission
• Gas giant planets as dynamical barriers to inward-migrating super-Earths
• The link between disc dispersal by photoevaporation and the semi-major axis distribution of exoplanets
• Architectures of Planetary Systems and Implications for their Formation
• Dawes Review. The tidal downsizing hypothesis of planet formation
• External Photoevaporation of the Solar Nebula: Jupiter's Noble Gas Enrichments
• The eccentricity distribution of giant planets and their relation to super-Earths in the pebble accretion scenario
• Stellar irradiated discs and implications on migration of embedded planets III: viscosity transitions
• Pebbles versus planetesimals: the outcomes of population synthesis models
• Runaway gas accretion and gap opening versus type~I migration
• Accreting planets as dust dams in `transition' discs
• Earth-like Habitats in Planetary Systems
• Understanding the assembly of Kepler's compact planetary systems
• Revisiting migration in a disc cavity to explain the high eccentricities of warm Jupiters
• The growth and migration of massive planets under the influence of external photoevaporation
• Population study on MHD wind-driven disc evolution -- Confronting theory and observation
• Dust entrainment in photoevaporative winds: The impact of X-rays
• Effects of photoevaporation on protoplanetary disc `isochrones'
• From Dust to Planets I: Planetesimal and Embryo Formation
• The imprint of X-ray photoevaporation of planet-forming discs on the orbital distribution of giant planets
• Dust delivery and entrainment in photoevaporative winds
• Global N-body simulations of circumbinary planet formation around Kepler-16 and -34 analogues I: Exploring the pebble accretion scenario
• Can Large-Scale Migration Explain the Giant Planet Occurrence Rate?
• The evolution of circumstellar discs in the Galactic Centre: an application to the G-clouds
• Dust entrainment in photoevaporative winds: Densities and imaging
• The imprint of X-ray photoevaporation of planet-forming discs on the orbital distribution of giant planets -- II. Theoretical predictions
• A young gas giant and hidden substructures in a protoplanetary disk
• Giant planet migration during the disc dispersal phase
• The influence of general-relativity effects, dynamical tides and collisions on planet-planet scattering close to the star
• Modelling thermochemical processes in protoplanetary disks I: numerical methods
• The interplay between forming planets and photoevaporating discs II: Wind-driven gas redistribution
• NIRPS and TESS reveal a peculiar system around the M dwarf TOI-756: A transiting sub-Neptune and a cold eccentric giant
• Planet formation: key mechanisms and global models
• On the diversification and dissipation of protoplanetary disks
• Dispersal of protoplanetary discs: How stellar properties and the local environment determine the pathway of evolution