A SHORT-PERIOD CENSOR OF SUB-JUPITER MASS EXOPLANETS WITH LOW DENSITY

Journal Article · Tue Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 2011 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/727/2/L44· OSTI ID:21560525

Szabo, Gy M; Kiss, L L ^[1]

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1. Konkoly Observatory of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 67, H-1525 Budapest (Hungary)

Despite the existence of many short-period hot Jupiters, there is not one hot Neptune with an orbital period less than 2.5 days. Here, we discuss a cluster analysis of the currently known 106 transiting exoplanets to investigate a possible explanation for this observation. We find two distinct clusters in the mass-density space, one with hot Jupiters with a wide range of orbital periods (0.8-114 days) and a narrow range of planet radii (1.2 {+-} 0.2 R{sub J} ) and another one with a mixture of super-Earths, hot Neptunes, and hot Jupiters, exhibiting a surprisingly narrow period distribution (3.7 {+-} 0.8 days). These two clusters follow strikingly different distributions in the period-radius parameter plane. The branch of sub-Jupiter mass exoplanets is censored by the orbital period at the large-radius end: no planets with mass between 0.02 and 0.8 M{sub J} or with radius between 0.25 and 1.0 R{sub J} are known with P{sub orb} < 2.5 days. This clustering is not predicted by current theories of planet formation and evolution, which we also review briefly.

• OSTI ID: 21560525
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 727; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
DENSITY
DISPERSIONS
DISTRIBUTION
JUPITER PLANET
MASS
MIXTURES
NEPTUNE PLANET
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLANETS