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Main Authors: Garfinkle, David, Rojo, Alberto G.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.07048
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author Garfinkle, David
Rojo, Alberto G.
author_facet Garfinkle, David
Rojo, Alberto G.
contents Planets have maximum radii close to that of Jupiter. Qualitatively, the reason for this maximum size is that, as one adds mass, the force of gravity becomes sufficiently strong to cause the radius to decrease. We show that this effect can be understood quantitatively using a simple variational principle very similar to that used to compute the size of the hydrogen atom.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_07048
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle What is the maximum radius of cold planets?
Garfinkle, David
Rojo, Alberto G.
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Planets have maximum radii close to that of Jupiter. Qualitatively, the reason for this maximum size is that, as one adds mass, the force of gravity becomes sufficiently strong to cause the radius to decrease. We show that this effect can be understood quantitatively using a simple variational principle very similar to that used to compute the size of the hydrogen atom.
title What is the maximum radius of cold planets?
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.07048