Evaporation rate of hot Jupiters and formation of Chthonian planets

Hébrard, G.; Étangs, A. Lecavelier des; Vidal-Madjar, A.; Désert, J. -M.; Ferlet, R.

Evaporation rate of hot Jupiters and formation of Chthonian planets

Authors

Hébrard, G.

Étangs, A. Lecavelier des

Vidal-Madjar, A.

Désert, J. -M.

Ferlet, R.

Description

Among the hundred of known extrasolar planets, about 15% are closer than 0.1 AU from their parent stars. But there are extremely few detections of planets orbiting in less than 3 days. At this limit the planet HD209458b has been found to have an extended upper atmosphere of escaping hydrogen. This suggests that the so-called hot Jupiters which are close to their parent stars could evaporate. Here we estimate the evaporation rate of hydrogen from extrasolar planets in the star vicinity. With high exospheric temperatures, and owing to the tidal forces, planets evaporate through a geometrical blow-off. This may explain the absence of Jupiter mass planets below a critical distance from the stars. Below this critical distance, we infer the existence of a new class of planets made of the residual central core of former hot Jupiters, which we propose to call the ``Chthonian'' planets.
To be published in the proceedings of the XIXth IAP Colloquium "Extrasolar Planets, Today And Tomorrow", 2 pages