A Gap in the Densities of Small Planets Orbiting M Dwarfs: Rigorous Statistical Confirmation Using the Open-source Code RhoPop

Abstract

Using mass-radius-composition models, small planets ($\mathrm{R}\lesssim 2{\mathrm{R}}_{\oplus }$) are typically classified into three types: iron-rich, nominally Earth-like, and those with solid/liquid water and/or atmosphere. These classes are generally expected to be variations within a compositional continuum. Recently, however, Luque & Pallé observed that potentially Earth-like planets around M dwarfs are separated from a lower-density population by a density gap. Meanwhile, the results of Adibekyan et al. hint that iron-rich planets around FGK stars are also a distinct population. It therefore remains unclear whether small planets represent a continuum or multiple distinct populations. Differentiating the nature of these populations will help constrain potential formation mechanisms. We present the RhoPop software for identifying small-planet populations. RhoPop employs mixture models in a hierarchical framework and a nested sampler for parameter and evidence estimates. Using RhoPop, we confirm the two populations of Luque & Pallé with $>4\sigma$ significance. The intrinsic scatter in the Earth-like subpopulation is roughly half that expected based on stellar abundance variations in local FGK stars, perhaps implying M dwarfs have a smaller spread in the major rock-building elements (Fe, Mg, Si) than FGK stars. We apply RhoPop to the Adibekyan et al. sample and find no evidence of more than one population. We estimate the sample size required to resolve a population of planets with Mercury-like compositions from those with Earth-like compositions for various mass-radius precisions. Only 16 planets are needed when ${\sigma }_{M_p}=5\%$ and ${\sigma }_{R_p}=1\%$. At ${\sigma }_{M_p}=10\%$ and ${\sigma }_{R_p}=2.5\%$, however, over 154 planets are needed, an order of magnitude increase.

Published in PSJ

References in corpus (16)

• Most 1.6 Earth-Radius Planets are not Rocky
• Can we constrain interior structure of rocky exoplanets from mass and radius measurements?
• Density, not radius, separates rocky and water-rich small planets orbiting M dwarf stars
• Stellar Abundances in the Solar Neighborhood: The Hypatia Catalog
• A giant impact as the likely origin of different twins in the Kepler-107 exoplanet system
• Conclusive evidence for a population of water-worlds around M-dwarfs remains elusive
• Evidence for the volatile-rich composition of a 1.5-$R_{\oplus }$ planet
• A Joint Mass-Radius-Period Distribution of Exoplanets
• Chemical Diversity of Super-Earths As a Consequence of Formation
• The Nominal Range of Rocky Planet Masses, Radii, Surface Gravities and Bulk Densities
• Nucleation and growth of iron pebbles explains the formation of iron-rich planets akin to Mercury
• Detailed Chemical Abundances for a Benchmark Sample of M Dwarfs from the APOGEE Survey
• HD 23472: A multi-planetary system with three super-Earths and two potential super-Mercuries
• Host-star and exoplanet compositions: a pilot study usinga wide binary with a polluted white dwarf
• The HD 137496 system: A dense, hot super-Mercury and a cold Jupiter
• A Reanalysis of the Composition of K2-106b: an Ultra-short Period Super-Mercury Candidate

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Linking the primordial composition of planet building disks to the present-day composition of rocky exoplanets
• Evolution of steam worlds: energetic aspects
• Characterisation of TOI-406 as showcase of the THIRSTEE program: A 2-planet system straddling the M-dwarf density gap
• A transiting rocky super-Earth and a non-transiting sub-Neptune orbiting the M dwarf TOI-771
• On the Ordering of Exoplanet Systems
• Sibling Sub-Neptunes Around Sibling M Dwarfs: TOI-521 and TOI-912