The Heating Efficiency of Hot Jupiters from a Data-driven Perspective
The inflated radii of hot Jupiters have been explored by various theoretical mechanisms. By connecting planetary thermal evolution models with the observed properties of hot Jupiters using hierarchical Bayesian models, a theoretical parameter called the heating efficiency has been introduced to desc...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astronomical Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ada945 |
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| Summary: | The inflated radii of hot Jupiters have been explored by various theoretical mechanisms. By connecting planetary thermal evolution models with the observed properties of hot Jupiters using hierarchical Bayesian models, a theoretical parameter called the heating efficiency has been introduced to describe the heating of the interiors of these planets. Previous studies have shown that the marginal distribution of this heating-efficiency parameter has a single-peak distribution along the planetary equilibrium temperature ( T _eq ). Since the observed properties of hot Jupiters are the foundation of these Bayesian inference models, there must be a corresponding feature in the observed data that leads to the inferred single-peak distribution of the heating efficiency. This study aims to find the underlying cause of the single-peak heating-efficiency distribution without relying on specific theoretical models. By analyzing the relationships between different observed physical properties, we obtain a similar single-peak distribution of the radius expansion efficiency of hot Jupiters along T _eq , which can be explained by the correlation with the stellar effective temperature. However, a detailed investigation suggests that this single-peak distribution is actually the result of straightforward physical processes. Specifically, the increase in heating efficiency can be attributed to the increase in incident stellar flux, while the decrease in heating efficiency can be attributed to the rise in the gravitational binding energy associated with the increase in planetary mass. |
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| ISSN: | 1538-3881 |