Blowin' in the non-isothermal wind: core-powered mass loss with hydrodynamic radiative transfer

Abstract

The mass loss rates of planets undergoing core-powered escape are usually modeled using an isothermal Parker-type wind at the equilibrium temperature, $T_{\mathrm{eq}}$. However, the upper atmospheres of sub-Neptunes may not be isothermal if there are significant differences between the opacity to incident visible and outgoing infrared radiation. We model bolometrically-driven escape using aiolos, a hydrodynamic radiative-transfer code that incorporates double-gray opacities, to investigate the process's dependence on the visible-to-infrared opacity ratio, $\gamma$. For a value of $\gamma \approx 1$, we find that the resulting mass loss rates are well-approximated by a Parker-type wind with an isothermal temperature $T=T_{\mathrm{eq}}/2^{1/4}$. However, we show that over a range of physically plausible values of $\gamma$, the mass loss rates can vary by orders of magnitude, ranging from $10^{-5}\times$ the isothermal rate for low $\gamma$ to $10^5\times$ the isothermal rate for high $\gamma$. The differences in mass loss rates are largest for small planet radii, while for large planet radii, mass loss rates become nearly independent of $\gamma$ and approach the isothermal approximation. We incorporate these opacity-dependent mass loss rates into a self-consistent planetary mass and energy evolution model and show that lower/higher $\gamma$ values lead to more/less hydrogen being retained after core-powered mass loss. In some cases, the choice of opacities determines whether or not a planet can retain a significant primordial hydrogen atmosphere. The dependence of escape rate on the opacity ratio may allow atmospheric escape observations to directly constrain a planet's opacities and therefore its atmospheric composition.

24 pages, 10 figures. Accepted in ApJ

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• Revising core powered mass loss: A critical assessment of the "energy limited" argument