Sculpting the Valley in the Radius Distribution of Small Exoplanets as a by-product of Planet Formation: The Core-Powered Mass-Loss Mechanism

Akash Gupta, Hilke E. Schlichting

Recent observations revealed a bimodal radius distribution of small, short-period exoplanets with a paucity in their occurrence, a radius `valley', around $1.5-2.0$ $R_{\oplus }$. In…