Tides on Lava Worlds: Application to Close-in Exoplanets and the Early Earth-Moon System

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Farhat, Mohammad, Auclair-Desrotour, Pierre, Boué, Gwenaël, Lichtenberg, Tim, Laskar, Jacques
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Farhat, Mohammad
Auclair-Desrotour, Pierre
Boué, Gwenaël
Lichtenberg, Tim
Laskar, Jacques
author_facet Farhat, Mohammad
Auclair-Desrotour, Pierre
Boué, Gwenaël
Lichtenberg, Tim
Laskar, Jacques
contents Understanding the physics of planetary magma oceans has been the subject of growing efforts, in light of the increasing abundance of Solar system samples and extrasolar surveys. A rocky planet harboring such an ocean is likely to interact tidally with its host star, planetary companions, or satellites. To date, however, models of the tidal response and heat generation of magma oceans have been restricted to the framework of weakly viscous solids, ignoring the dynamical fluid behavior of the ocean beyond a critical melt fraction. Here we provide a handy analytical model that accommodates this phase transition, allowing for a physical estimation of the tidal response of lava worlds. We apply the model in two settings: The tidal history of the early Earth-Moon system in the aftermath of the giant impact; and the tidal interplay between short-period exoplanets and their host stars. For the former, we show that the fluid behavior of the Earth's molten surface drives efficient early Lunar recession to ${\sim} 25$ Earth radii within $10^4{-} 10^5$ years, in contrast with earlier predictions. For close-in exoplanets, we report on how their molten surfaces significantly change their spin-orbit dynamics, allowing them to evade spin-orbit resonances and accelerating their track towards tidal synchronization from a Gyr to Myr timescale. Moreover, we re-evaluate the energy budgets of detected close-in exoplanets, highlighting how the surface thermodynamics of these planets are likely controlled by enhanced, fluid-driven tidal heating, rather than vigorous insolation, and how this regime change substantially alters predictions for their surface temperatures.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_07285
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Tides on Lava Worlds: Application to Close-in Exoplanets and the Early Earth-Moon System
Farhat, Mohammad
Auclair-Desrotour, Pierre
Boué, Gwenaël
Lichtenberg, Tim
Laskar, Jacques
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Geophysics
Understanding the physics of planetary magma oceans has been the subject of growing efforts, in light of the increasing abundance of Solar system samples and extrasolar surveys. A rocky planet harboring such an ocean is likely to interact tidally with its host star, planetary companions, or satellites. To date, however, models of the tidal response and heat generation of magma oceans have been restricted to the framework of weakly viscous solids, ignoring the dynamical fluid behavior of the ocean beyond a critical melt fraction. Here we provide a handy analytical model that accommodates this phase transition, allowing for a physical estimation of the tidal response of lava worlds. We apply the model in two settings: The tidal history of the early Earth-Moon system in the aftermath of the giant impact; and the tidal interplay between short-period exoplanets and their host stars. For the former, we show that the fluid behavior of the Earth's molten surface drives efficient early Lunar recession to ${\sim} 25$ Earth radii within $10^4{-} 10^5$ years, in contrast with earlier predictions. For close-in exoplanets, we report on how their molten surfaces significantly change their spin-orbit dynamics, allowing them to evade spin-orbit resonances and accelerating their track towards tidal synchronization from a Gyr to Myr timescale. Moreover, we re-evaluate the energy budgets of detected close-in exoplanets, highlighting how the surface thermodynamics of these planets are likely controlled by enhanced, fluid-driven tidal heating, rather than vigorous insolation, and how this regime change substantially alters predictions for their surface temperatures.
title Tides on Lava Worlds: Application to Close-in Exoplanets and the Early Earth-Moon System
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Geophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.07285