Abstract
The planetary mass-radius diagram is an observational result of central importance to understand planet formation. We present an updated version of our planet formation model based on the core accretion paradigm which allows to calculate planetary radii and luminosities during the entire formation and evolution of the planets. We first study with it the formation of Jupiter, and compare with previous works. Then we conduct planetary population synthesis calculations to obtain a synthetic mass-radius diagram which we compare with the observed one. Except for bloated Hot Jupiters which can be explained only with additional mechanisms related to their proximity to the star, we find a good agreement of the general shape of the observed and the synthetic mass-radius diagram. This shape can be understood with basic concepts of the core accretion model.
Highlights
IntroductionCombined with radial velocity measurements which yield the mass of the planet, one gets the planetary mass-radius diagram, which is an observational result of similar importance as the semimajor axis-mass diagram
The number of known transiting extrasolar planets is increasing rapidly
We have presented an updated planet formation code which allows to calculate in a self-consistent way planetary radii and luminosities during the entire formation and evolution phase
Summary
Combined with radial velocity measurements which yield the mass of the planet, one gets the planetary mass-radius diagram, which is an observational result of similar importance as the semimajor axis-mass diagram. The reason for this is that one can derive the mean density of the planet, which constrains, at least to some extent, the internal structure which is of central importance to understand the nature (Leconte et al 2009) and, as we shall see, the formation of the planet.
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