Thermal Evolution and Mass Loss on Short-Period, Low-Mass Planets During FU Orionis Outbursts

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Autori principali: Becker, Juliette, Batygin, Konstantin
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Becker, Juliette
Batygin, Konstantin
author_facet Becker, Juliette
Batygin, Konstantin
contents Ultra-short-period (USP) planets represent a unique class of exoplanets characterized by their tight orbits and relatively low masses, with some also exhibiting unusually high iron fractions. Previous work (Becker et al, 2021) proposed a dynamical pathway wherein planets can migrate inward due to drag from sub-Keplerian gas during episodic FU Orionis (FU Ori) outbursts, an abrupt accretion phenomenon exhibited by young stellar objects, thereby potentially populating USP orbits. However, the implications of this migration process on the structural and compositional evolution of these planets remain unexplored. In this work, we model the response of a planet's surface material to the high disk temperatures characteristic of an FU Ori event and compute the fraction of an Earth-like planet's mass that will be lost due to vaporization and subsequent turbulent diffusion of gaseous molecules during the FU Ori event. We find that low-mass planets may lose a substantial fraction of their mantle mass during FU Ori events, potentially contributing to the observed prevalence of low-mass, iron-rich USP planets.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_16772
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Thermal Evolution and Mass Loss on Short-Period, Low-Mass Planets During FU Orionis Outbursts
Becker, Juliette
Batygin, Konstantin
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Ultra-short-period (USP) planets represent a unique class of exoplanets characterized by their tight orbits and relatively low masses, with some also exhibiting unusually high iron fractions. Previous work (Becker et al, 2021) proposed a dynamical pathway wherein planets can migrate inward due to drag from sub-Keplerian gas during episodic FU Orionis (FU Ori) outbursts, an abrupt accretion phenomenon exhibited by young stellar objects, thereby potentially populating USP orbits. However, the implications of this migration process on the structural and compositional evolution of these planets remain unexplored. In this work, we model the response of a planet's surface material to the high disk temperatures characteristic of an FU Ori event and compute the fraction of an Earth-like planet's mass that will be lost due to vaporization and subsequent turbulent diffusion of gaseous molecules during the FU Ori event. We find that low-mass planets may lose a substantial fraction of their mantle mass during FU Ori events, potentially contributing to the observed prevalence of low-mass, iron-rich USP planets.
title Thermal Evolution and Mass Loss on Short-Period, Low-Mass Planets During FU Orionis Outbursts
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.16772