Structural and thermal models of mostly-rocky extrasolar planets

• Applicant: Dr. Nicola Tosi, since 8/2020
• Subject Area: Geophysics ; Astrophysics and Astronomy
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 280637173

The ever-extending temporal baseline of extrasolar planet observations and improved observational facilities will provide measurements of the shape (dynamical and/or geometrical) of extrasolar planets as parameterized through Love numbers, a topic that is the focus of subproject 6. Starting from this premise, this project has two main goals. First, under the assumption that the shape of extrasolar planets is compatible with hydrostatic equilibrium, we will leverage a large set of synthetic interior structures for small planets---i.e., planets with mass smaller than 20 Earth masses, usually referred to as super-Earths or mini-Neptunes---developed during the first funding period to investigate their distribution in a mass-radius-fluid Love number space. The goal will be to assess the possibility that with an additional observable the well-known degeneracy in mass-radius curves may be removed. Second, in order to assess whether the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium, which is reasonable for Neptune-like planets, is correct for super-Earths, we will investigate the thermal evolution of representative interior structures for super-Earths. To this end, we will use input for material properties as calculated by subprojects 1, 2, and 8, and include in the thermal evolution calculations the effects of tidal energy dissipation, given that the majority of exoplanets, due to well-known observational biases, orbit close to their parent stars and their orbits are often not circular. Results of this subproject will provide a road map for assessing the interior structure of small-mass extrasolar planets.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 2440: Matter Under Planetary Interior Conditions - High-Pressure, Planetary and Plasma Physics
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Dr. Sebastiano Padovan, until 7/2020