Observational Signatures of Circumstellar Gas Tori Formed by Planetary Mass-Loss from Close-In Exoplanets
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arXiv
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| Autores principales: | , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2026
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| _version_ | 1866918344581447680 |
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| author | Schreyer, Ethan Murray-Clay, Ruth |
| author_facet | Schreyer, Ethan Murray-Clay, Ruth |
| contents | Close-in exoplanets with H/He atmospheres often undergo hydrodynamic escape. In extreme cases, it is hypothesized that the mass loss can be high enough for the escaping planetary material to wrap around the star, forming a long-lasting circumstellar torus. In this work, we develop a physical model of such circumstellar tori and use a ray tracing scheme to calculate the attenuation of stellar light passing through them. We show that the presence of a circumstellar torus significantly increases the equivalent width of the observed stellar He I 10830~Å~line. When combined with observations of the star's Ca II H & K lines, these systems can typically be distinguished from field stars. Based on these results, we propose a survey of stars hosting close-in planets, combining observations of the He I 10830~Å~and Ca II H & K lines to search for circumstellar tori generated from planetary mass-loss in these systems. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_16816 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Observational Signatures of Circumstellar Gas Tori Formed by Planetary Mass-Loss from Close-In Exoplanets Schreyer, Ethan Murray-Clay, Ruth Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Close-in exoplanets with H/He atmospheres often undergo hydrodynamic escape. In extreme cases, it is hypothesized that the mass loss can be high enough for the escaping planetary material to wrap around the star, forming a long-lasting circumstellar torus. In this work, we develop a physical model of such circumstellar tori and use a ray tracing scheme to calculate the attenuation of stellar light passing through them. We show that the presence of a circumstellar torus significantly increases the equivalent width of the observed stellar He I 10830~Å~line. When combined with observations of the star's Ca II H & K lines, these systems can typically be distinguished from field stars. Based on these results, we propose a survey of stars hosting close-in planets, combining observations of the He I 10830~Å~and Ca II H & K lines to search for circumstellar tori generated from planetary mass-loss in these systems. |
| title | Observational Signatures of Circumstellar Gas Tori Formed by Planetary Mass-Loss from Close-In Exoplanets |
| topic | Earth and Planetary Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.16816 |