Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p33d..06z&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P33D-06
Other
0343 Planetary Atmospheres (5210, 5405, 5704), 6005 Atmospheres (1060), 6040 Origin And Evolution, 6207 Comparative Planetology, 6296 Extra-Solar Planets
Scientific paper
Volatile escape is the classic existential problem of planetary atmospheres. The problem has gained new currency now that we can begin to study escape, or the cumulative effects of escape, from extrasolar planets seen in transit. Currently the published roster of transiting exoplanets consists of more than 30 "Jupiters" and one "Neptune." Already some intriguing patterns seem to be emerging. In particular, the transiting extrasolar planets appear to fit to a pattern already seen in our own Solar System. There is a clear hint that the boundary between planets with and without active volatiles --- the cosmic shoreline, as it were --- is surprisingly well-defined and therefore ought to be theoretically characterizable. The data show that (i) atmospheres are found where gravitational binding energy is high and solar heating low, and (ii) atmospheres are found where gravitational binding energy is high and impact velocities are low. In either case, to first approximation the boundary between planets with and without atmospheres is a single simple power law that extends from Pluto at one end to hot Jupiters at the other. Here we discuss how atmospheric escape can account for these patterns.
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