Kevin Heng, Pushkar Kopparla
We investigate the stability of super Earth atmospheres around M stars using a 7-parameter, analytical framework. We construct stability diagrams in the parameter space of exoplanetary radius versus semi-major axis and elucidate the regions in which stable atmospheres may exist. We find that super Earth atmospheres with higher mean molecular weights and enhanced metallicities occupy a smaller region of allowed parameter space, because of the dual effects of diminished advection and enhanced radiative cooling. Furthermore, many super Earths which reside within the habitable zones of M stars may not possess stable, Earth-like atmospheres. We apply our stability diagrams to GJ 436b and GJ 1214b, and demonstrate that Earth-like elemental compositions for their atmospheres are disfavoured if these exoplanets possess solid surfaces and shallow atmospheres. Finally, we construct stability diagrams tailored to the Kepler dataset, for G and K stars, and predict that about half of the exoplanetary candidates are expected to habour stable atmospheres if Earth-like conditions are assumed. We include 55 Cancri e and CoRoT-7b in our stability diagram for G stars.
View original:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.1922
No comments:
Post a Comment