Energy-limited escape revised

Abstract

Gas planets in close proximity to their host stars experience photoevaporative mass loss. The energy-limited escape concept is generally used to derive estimates for the planetary mass-loss rates. Our photoionization hydrodynamics simulations of the thermospheres of hot gas planets show that the energy-limited escape concept is valid only for planets with a gravitational potential lower than ${\log }_{10}\left(-{\Phi }_{\mathrm{G}}\right)<13.11$ergg${}^{-1}$ because in these planets the radiative energy input is efficiently used to drive the planetary wind. Massive and compact planets with ${\log }_{10}\left(-{\Phi }_{\mathrm{G}}\right)\gtrsim 13.6$ergg${}^{-1}$ exhibit more tightly bound atmospheres in which the complete radiative energy input is re-emitted through hydrogen Ly$\alpha$ and free-free emission. These planets therefore host hydrodynamically stable thermospheres. Between these two extremes the strength of the planetary winds rapidly declines as a result of a decreasing heating efficiency. Small planets undergo enhanced evaporation because they host expanded atmospheres that expose a larger surface to the stellar irradiation. We present scaling laws for the heating efficiency and the expansion radius that depend on the gravitational potential and irradiation level of the planet. The resulting revised energy-limited escape concept can be used to derive estimates for the mass-loss rates of super-Earth-sized planets as well as massive hot Jupiters with hydrogen-dominated atmospheres.

5 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

References in corpus (24)

• Atmospheric Escape from Hot Jupiters
• Understanding the Mass-Radius Relation for Sub-Neptunes: Radius as a Proxy for Composition
• The PLUTO Code for Adaptive Mesh Computations in Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics
• Roche lobe effects on the atmospheric loss of "Hot Jupiters"
• Estimation of the XUV radiation onto close planets and their evaporation
• How Thermal Evolution and Mass Loss Sculpt Populations of Super-Earths and Sub-Neptunes: Application to the Kepler-11 System and Beyond
• Kepler-36: A Pair of Planets with Neighboring Orbits and Dissimilar Densities
• Evaporation of the planet HD189733b observed in HI Lyman-alpha
• Metals in the Exosphere of the Highly Irradiated Planet WASP-12b
• Atmospheric Escape from Hot Jupiters
• A diagram for the evaporation status of extrasolar planets
• Lyman-$\alpha$ Transit Spectroscopy and the Neutral Hydrogen Tail of the Hot Neptune GJ436b
• The escape of heavy atoms from the ionosphere of HD209458b. I. A photochemical-dynamical model of the thermosphere
• The effect of evaporation on the evolution of close-in giant planets
• Simulating the escaping atmospheres of hot gas planets in the solar neighborhood
• Hint of a transiting extended atmosphere on 55 Cancri b
• Heating efficiency in hydrogen-dominated upper atmospheres
• Mass-loss rates for transiting exoplanets
• XUV exposed non-hydrostatic hydrogen-rich upper atmospheres of terrestrial planets. Part I: Atmospheric expansion and thermal escape
• Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Hot Jupiter Upper Atmospheres
• Atmosphere expansion and mass loss of close-orbit giant exoplanets heated by stellar XUV: I. Modeling of hydrodynamic escape of upper atmospheric material
• A scenario of planet erosion by coronal radiation
• High-energy irradiation and mass loss rates of hot Jupiters in the solar neighborhood
• TPCI: The PLUTO-CLOUDY Interface

Cited by in corpus (92)

• The evaporation valley in the Kepler planets
• Evolutionary Analysis of Gaseous Sub-Neptune-Mass Planets with MESA
• A grid of upper atmosphere models for 1--40 MEARTH planets: application to CoRoT-7 b and HD219134 b,c
• Atmospheric Escape Processes and Planetary Atmospheric Evolution
• The 55 Cnc system reassessed
• Overcoming the limitations of the energy-limited approximation for planet atmospheric escape
• Reconnaissance of the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanet system in the Lyman-$\alpha$ line
• Aeronomical constraints to the minimum mass and maximum radius of hot low-mass planets
• Detection of Helium in the Atmosphere of the Exo-Neptune HAT-P-11b
• Confirmation of WASP-107b's extended Helium atmosphere with Keck II/NIRSPEC
• Modelling the He I triplet absorption at 10830 Angstroms in the atmosphere of HD 209458 b
• Thermal mass loss of protoplanetary cores with hydrogen-dominated atmospheres: The influences of ionization and orbital distance
• The Upper Edge of the Neptune Desert Is Stable Against Photoevaporation
• On the Role of Dissolved Gases in the Atmosphere Retention of Low-Mass Low-Density Planets
• GJ 1252b: A Hot Terrestrial Super-Earth With No Atmosphere
• Into the Storm: Diving into the winds of the ultra hot Jupiter WASP-76 b with HARPS and ESPRESSO
• Escape and fractionation of volatiles and noble gases from Mars-sized planetary embryos and growing protoplanets
• Irradiation-driven escape of primordial planetary atmospheres II. Evaporation efficiency of sub-Neptunes through hot Jupiters
• H$\alpha$ and He I absorption in HAT-P-32 b observed with CARMENES -- Detection of Roche lobe overflow and mass loss
• X-ray irradiation and evaporation of the four young planets around V1298 Tau
• An Overabundance of Low-density Neptune-like Planets
• No hydrogen exosphere detected around the super-Earth HD97658 b
• The XUV environments of exoplanets from Jupiter-size to super-Earth
• Coupling thermal evolution of planets and hydrodynamic atmospheric escape in MESA
• Modelling the He I triplet absorption at 10830 Angstroms in the atmospheres of HD 189733 b and GJ 3470 b
• The JADE code: Coupling secular exoplanetary dynamics and photo-evaporation
• Swift UVOT near-UV transit observations of WASP-121 b
• A critical assessment of the applicability of the energy-limited approximation for estimating exoplanetary mass-loss rates
• Reconstructing the high energy irradiation of the evaporating hot Jupiter HD 209458b
• Strong HI Lyman-$\alpha$ variations from the 11 Gyr-old host star Kepler-444: a planetary origin ?
• The K2-3 system revisited: testing photoevaporation and core-powered mass loss with three small planets spanning the radius valley
• Young planets under extreme UV irradiation. I. Upper atmosphere modelling of the young exoplanet K2-33b
• A Featureless Infrared Transmission Spectrum for the Super-Puff Planet Kepler-79d
• Characterisation of the upper atmospheres of HAT-P-32 b, WASP-69 b, GJ 1214 b, and WASP-76 b through their He I triplet absorption
• Evidence of energy-, recombination-, and photon-limited escape regimes in giant planet H/He atmospheres
• Evaporation of planetary atmospheres due to XUV illumination by quasars
• How does the mass and activity history of the host star affect the population of low-mass planets?
• TOI-1231 b: A Temperate, Neptune-Sized Planet Transiting the Nearby M3 Dwarf NLTT 24399
• Modeling the Ly$\alpha$ transit absorption of the hot Jupiter HD 189733b
• Time-resolved UVES observations of a stellar flare on the planet host HD 189733 during primary transit
• Sculpting the sub-Saturn Occurrence Rate via Atmospheric Mass Loss
• Aiolos- A multi-purpose 1-D hydrodynamics code for planetary atmospheres
• Secondary atmospheres on HD 219134 b and c
• TOI-532b: The Habitable-zone Planet Finder confirms a Large Super Neptune in the Neptune Desert orbiting a metal-rich M dwarf host
• The effect of a small amount of hydrogen in the atmosphere of ultrahot magma-ocean planets: atmospheric composition and escape
• Planet-Induced Stellar Pulsations in HAT-P-2's Eccentric System
• The high-energy spectrum of the nearby planet-hosting inactive mid-M dwarf LHS 3844
• The metal-poor atmosphere of a Neptune/Sub-Neptune planet progenitor
• The influence of host star activity evolution on the population of super-Earths and mini-Neptunes
• Detection of Paschen $\beta$ absorption in the atmosphere of KELT-9 b: A new window into the atmospheres of ultra-hot Jupiters
• Planetary evolution with atmospheric photoevaporation II: Fitting the slope of the radius valley by combining boil-off and XUV-driven escape
• Planetary parameters, XUV environments and mass-loss rates for nearby gaseous planets with X-ray detected host-stars
• GJ 3090 b: one of the most favourable mini-Neptune for atmospheric characterisation
• The shared evaporation history of three sub-Neptunes spanning the radius-period valley of a Hyades star
• Anatomy of rocky planets formed by rapid pebble accretion III. Partitioning of volatiles between planetary core, mantle, and atmosphere
• The Maximum Mass-Loss Efficiency for a Photoionization-Driven Isothermal Parker Wind
• Revisiting Kepler-444. II. Rotational, orbital and high-energy fluxes evolution of the system
• The atmosphere of WASP-17b: Optical high-resolution transmission spectroscopy
• Hydrodynamic atmospheric escape in HD 189733 b: Signatures of carbon and hydrogen measured with the Hubble Space Telescope
• Eta-Earth Revisited II: Deriving a Maximum Number of Earth-like Habitats in the Galactic Disk
• Atmospheric mass loss of extrasolar planets orbiting magnetically active host stars
• The key impact of the host star's rotational history on the evolution of TOI-849b
• Unraveling the evolution of hot Jupiter systems under the effect of tidal and magnetic interactions and mass loss
• Narrow loophole for H2-dominated atmospheres on habitable rocky planets around M dwarfs
• Updated Planetary Mass Constraints of the Young V1298 Tau System Using MAROON-X
• Revisiting Orbital Evolution in HAT-P-2 b and Confirmation of HAT-P-2 c
• Coronal X-ray emission and planetary irradiation in HD 209458
• Star-planet interactions VI. Tides, stellar activity and planet evaporation
• Role of Planetary Radius on Atmospheric Escape of Rocky Exoplanets
• Using the helium triplet as a tracer of the physics of giant planet outflows
• The Hubble PanCET program: Long-term chromospheric evolution and flaring activity of the M dwarf host GJ 3470
• HST PanCET program: Non-detection of atmospheric escape in the warm Saturn-sized planet WASP-29 b
• Effects of Planetesimal Accretion on the Thermal and Structural Evolution of Sub-Neptunes
• Interior redox state effects on the stability of secondary atmospheres and observational manifestations: LP 791-18 d as a case study for outgassing rocky exoplanets
• Two transiting hot Jupiters from the WASP survey: WASP-150b and WASP-176b
• Water-Cooled (sub)-Neptunes Get Better Gas Mileage
• The high-energy environment of the heavy sub-Earth GJ 367 b indicates likely complete evaporation of its atmosphere
• X-ray emission in the enigmatic CVSO 30 system
• The escape of hydrogen-rich atmosphere of exoplanet: Mass loss rates and the absorptions of stellar Lyman $\alpha$
• Searching for Hot Water World Candidates with CHEOPS: Refining the radii and analysing the internal structures and atmospheric lifetimes of TOI-238 b and TOI-1685 b
• Is planetary inward migration responsible for GJ 504's fast rotation and bright X-ray luminosity? New constraints from eROSITA
• Identifying interesting planetary systems for future X-ray observations
• Estimating photoevaporative mass loss of exoplanets with PLATYPOS
• Is the high-energy environment of K2-18b special?
• X-ray irradiation of three planets around Hyades star K2-136
• Evolution of gas envelopes and outgassed atmospheres of rocky planets formed via pebble accretion
• Evolution and Observable Properties of Rocky Planet Atmospheres
• Why M-dwarf flares have limited impact on the atmospheric evaporation of sub-Neptunes and Earth-sized planets
• The Impact of Enhanced EUV Flux on the Upper Atmosphere of Earth-like Exoplanets
• Star-planet magnetic interactions in photoevaporating exoplanets: enhanced power due to atmospheric escape
• ExoplANETS-A: A VO database for host stars and planetary systems: The effect of XUV on planet atmospheres
• Revising core powered mass loss: A critical assessment of the "energy limited" argument