Understanding of accretion process of atmospheres of short-period super-Earths

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25400224
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Astronomy
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Ikoma Masahiro 東京大学, 大学院理学系研究科(理学部), 准教授 (80397025)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 系外惑星

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A growing number of planets have been detected around stars other than the Sun. Those are called exoplanets. It has been recently revealed that the biggest population of exoplanets is planets of about 1-2 times the Earth's diameter, which are called super-Earths. According to their measured masses and diameters, the super-Earths are not a big version of the Earth, because many of them are low-density ones, relative to the Earth. This indicates that the super-Earths likely have thick atmospheres. It was poorly known how super-Earths obtain such thick atmospheres. In this research project, I have investigated theoretically the accumulation process of the atmosphere on super-Earths embedded in protoplanetary disks where planet formation occurs. Then, I have quantified the conditions required for the formation of such thick atmospheres of super-Earths.

Free Research Field

惑星科学