Roche lobe effects on the atmospheric loss from “Hot Jupiters”

Abstract

Context. A study of the mass loss enhancement for very close “Hot Jupiters” due to the gravitational field of the host star is presented. Aims. The influence of the proximity to a planet of the Roche lobe boundary on the critical temperature for blow-off conditions for estimating the increase of the mass loss rate through hydrodynamic blow-off for close-in exoplanets is investigated. Methods. We consider the gravitational potential for a star and a planet along the line that joins their mass centers and the energy balance equation for an evaporating planetary atmosphere including the effect of the stellar tidal force on atmospheric escape. Results. By studying the effect of the Roche lobe on the atmospheric loss from short-periodic gas giants we derived reasonably accurate approximate formulas to estimate atmospheric loss enhancement due to the action of tidal forces on a “Hot Jupiter” and to calculate the critical temperature for the onset of “geometrical blow-off”, which are valid for any physical values of the Roche lobe radial distance. Using these formulas, we found that the stellar tidal forces can enhance the hydrodynamic evaporation rate from TreS-1 and OGLE-TR-56b by about 2 fold, while for HD 209458b we found an enhancement of about 50%. For similar exoplanets which are closer to their host star than OGLE-TR-56b, the mass loss enhancement can be even larger. Moreover, we showed that the effect of the Roche lobe allows “Hot Jupiters” to reach blow-off conditions at temperatures which are less than expected due to the stellar X-ray and EUV heating.