Disk Photoevaporation Research Articles

Radiation Hydrodynamics Simulations of Protoplanetary Disks: Stellar Mass Dependence of the Disk Photoevaporation Rate

Abstract Recent multiwavelength observations suggest that inner parts of protoplanetary disks (PPDs) have shorter lifetimes for heavier host stars. Since PPDs around high-mass stars are irradiated by strong ultraviolet radiation, photoevaporation may provide an explanation for the observed trend. We perform radiation hydrodynamics simulations of photoevaporation of PPDs for a wide range of host star mass of M * = 0.5–7.0 M ⊙. We derive disk mass-loss rate M ̇ , which has strong stellar dependence as M ̇ ≈ 7.30 × 10 − 9 ( M * / M ⊙ ) 2 M ⊙ yr − 1 . The absolute value of M ̇ scales with the adopted far-ultraviolet and X-ray luminosities. We derive the surface mass-loss rates and provide polynomial function fits to them. We also develop a semianalytic model that well reproduces the derived mass-loss rates. The estimated inner-disk lifetime decreases as the host star mass increases, in agreement with the observational trend. We thus argue that photoevaporation is a major physical mechanism for PPD dispersal for a wide range of the stellar mass and can account for the observed stellar mass dependence of the inner-disk lifetime.

Proplyds in the flame nebula NGC 2024

ABSTRACT A recent survey of the inner 0.35 × 0.35 pc of the NGC 2024 star-forming region revealed two distinct millimetre continuum disc populations that appear to be spatially segregated by the boundary of a dense cloud. The eastern (and more embedded) population is ∼0.2–0.5 Myr old, with an ALMA mm continuum disc detection rate of about $45\,$ per cent. However, this drops to only $\sim 15\,$ per cent in the 1-Myr western population. When these distinct populations were presented, it was suggested that the two main UV sources, IRS 1 (a B0.5V star in the western region) and IRS 2b (an O8V star in the eastern region, but embedded) have both been evaporating the discs in the depleted western population. In this paper, we report the firm discovery in archival HST data of four proplyds and four further candidate proplyds in NGC 2024, confirming that external photoevaporation of discs is occurring. However, the locations of these proplyds changes the picture. Only three of them are in the depleted western population and their evaporation is dominated by IRS 1, with no obvious impact from IRS 2b. The other five proplyds are in the younger eastern region and being evaporated by IRS 2b. We propose that both populations are subject to significant external photoevaporation, which happens throughout the region wherever discs are not sufficiently shielded by the interstellar medium. The external photoevaporation and severe depletion of mm grains in the 0.2–0.5 Myr eastern part of NGC 2024 would be in competition even with very early planet formation.

Effects of stellar density on the photoevaporation of circumstellar discs

ABSTRACT Circumstellar discs are the precursors of planetary systems and develop shortly after their host star has formed. In their early stages, these discs are immersed in an environment rich in gas and neighbouring stars, which can be hostile for their survival. There are several environmental processes that affect the evolution of circumstellar discs, and external photoevaporation is arguably one of the most important ones. Theoretical and observational evidence point to circumstellar discs losing mass quickly when in the vicinity of massive, bright stars. In this work, we simulate circumstellar discs in clustered environments in a range of stellar densities, where the photoevaporation mass-loss process is resolved simultaneously with the stellar dynamics, stellar evolution, and the viscous evolution of the discs. Our results indicate that external photoevaporation is efficient in depleting disc masses and that the degree of its effect is related to stellar density. We find that a local stellar density lower than 100 stars pc−2 is necessary for discs massive enough to form planets to survive for 2.0 Myr. There is an order of magnitude difference in the disc masses in regions of projected density 100 versus 104 stars pc−2. We compare our results to observations of the Lupus clouds, the Orion Nebula Cluster, the Orion Molecular Cloud-2, Taurus, and NGC 2024, and find that the trends observed between region density and disc masses are similar to those in our simulations.

Forbidden line diagnostics of photoevaporative disc winds

ABSTRACT Photoevaporation driven by high-energy radiation from the central star plays an important role in the evolution of protoplanetary discs. Photoevaporative winds have been unambiguously detected through blue-shifted emission lines, but their detailed properties remain uncertain. Here we present a new empirical approach to make observational predictions of these thermal winds, seeking to fill the gap between theory and observations. We use a self-similar model of an isothermal wind to compute line profiles of several characteristic emission lines (in particular the [Ne ii] line at 12.81 μm, and optical forbidden lines such as [O i] 6300 Å and [S ii] 4068/4076 Å), studying how the lines are affected by parameters such as the gas temperature, disc inclinations, and density profile. Our model successfully reproduces blue-shifted lines with $v_{\rm peak} \lesssim 10$ km s−1, which decrease with increasing disc inclination. The line widths increase with increasing disc inclinations and range from $\Delta v\sim 15\text{ to }30$ km s−1. The predicted blue-shifts are mostly sensitive to the gas sound speed (and therefore the temperature). The observed [Ne ii] line profiles are consistent with a thermal wind and point towards a relatively high sound speed, as expected for extreme-UV photoevaporation. However, the observed [O i] line profiles require lower temperatures, as expected in X-ray photoevaporation, and show a wider scatter that is difficult to reconcile with a single wind model; it seems likely that these lines trace different components of a multiphase wind. We also note that the spectral resolution of current observations remains an important limiting factor in these studies, and that higher resolution spectra are required if emission lines are to further our understanding of protoplanetary disc winds.

Testing viscous disc theory using the balance between stellar accretion and external photoevaporation of protoplanetary discs

ABSTRACT The nature and rate of (viscous) angular momentum transport in protoplanetary discs (PPDs) have important consequences for the formation process of planetary systems. While accretion rates on to the central star yield constraints on such transport in the inner regions of a PPD, empirical constraints on viscous spreading in the outer regions remain challenging to obtain. Here, we demonstrate a novel method to probe the angular momentum transport at the outer edge of the disc. This method applies to PPDs that have lost a significant fraction of their mass due to thermal winds driven by UV irradiation from a neighbouring OB star. We demonstrate that this external photoevaporation can explain the observed depletion of discs in the 3–5 Myr old σ Orionis region, and use our model to make predictions motivating future empirical investigations of disc winds. For populations of intermediate-age PPDs, in viscous models we show that the mass flux outwards due to angular momentum redistribution is balanced by the mass-loss in the photoevaporative wind. A comparison between wind mass-loss and stellar accretion rates therefore offers an independent constraint on viscous models in the outer regions of PPDs.

How Magnetic Activity Alters What We Learn from Stellar Spectra

Abstract Magnetic fields and stellar spots can alter the equivalent widths of absorption lines in stellar spectra, varying during the activity cycle. This also influences the information that we derive through spectroscopic analysis. In this study, we analyze high-resolution spectra of 211 sunlike stars observed at different phases of their activity cycles, in order to investigate how stellar activity affects the spectroscopic determination of stellar parameters and chemical abundances. We observe that the equivalent widths of lines can increase as a function of the activity index log R during the stellar cycle, which also produces an artificial growth of the stellar microturbulence and a decrease in effective temperature and metallicity. This effect is visible for stars with activity indexes log R (i.e., younger than 4–5 Gyr), and it is more significant at higher activity levels. These results have fundamental implications on several topics in astrophysics that are discussed in the paper, including stellar nucleosynthesis, chemical tagging, the study of Galactic chemical evolution, chemically anomalous stars, the structure of the Milky Way disk, stellar formation rates, photoevaporation of circumstellar disks, and planet hunting.

Cometary Tails as a Sign of Disk Photoevaporation in NGC 6193

Cometary Tails as a Sign of Disk Photoevaporation in NGC 6193

External photoevaporation of circumstellar discs constrains the time-scale for planet formation

ABSTRACT Planet-forming circumstellar discs are a fundamental part of the star formation process. Since stars form in a hierarchical fashion in groups of up to hundreds or thousands, the UV radiation environment that these discs are exposed to can vary in strength by at least six orders of magnitude. This radiation can limit the masses and sizes of the discs. Diversity in star forming environments can have long lasting effects in disc evolution and in the resulting planetary populations. We perform simulations to explore the evolution of circumstellar discs in young star clusters. We include viscous evolution, as well as the impact of dynamical encounters and external photoevaporation. We find that photoevaporation is an important process in destroying circumstellar discs: in regions of stellar density ρ ∼ 100 M⊙ pc−3 around $80{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of discs are destroyed before $2\, \hbox{Myr}$ of cluster evolution. In regions of ρ ∼ 50 M⊙ pc−3 around $50{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of discs are destroyed in the same time-scale. Our findings are in agreement with observed disc fractions in young star-forming regions and support previous estimations that planet formation must start in time-scales <0.1–1 Myr.

VLA cm-wave survey of young stellar objects in the Oph A cluster: constraining extreme UV- and X-ray-driven disk photoevaporation

Observations of young stellar objects (YSOs) in centimeter bands can probe the continuum emission from growing dust grains, ionized winds, and magnetospheric activity that are intimately connected to the evolution of protoplanetary disks and the formation of planets. We carried out sensitive continuum observations toward the Ophiuchus A star-forming region, using theKarl G. JanskyVery Large Array (VLA) at 10 GHz over a field-of-view of 6′ and with a spatial resolution ofθmaj×θmin~ 0.′′4 × 0.′′2. We achieved a 5μJy beam−1rms noise level at the center of our mosaic field of view. Among the 18 sources we detected, 16 were YSOs (three Class 0, five Class I, six Class II, and two Class III) and two were extragalactic candidates. We find that thermal dust emission generally contributed less than 30% of the emission at 10 GHz. The radio emission is dominated by other types of emission, such as gyro-synchrotron radiation from active magnetospheres, free–free emission from thermal jets, free–free emission from the outflowing photoevaporated disk material, and synchrotron emission from accelerated cosmic-rays in jet or protostellar surface shocks. These different types of emission could not be clearly disentangled. Our non-detections for Class II/III disks suggest that extreme UV-driven photoevaporation is insufficient to explain disk dispersal, assuming that the contribution of UV photoevaporating stellar winds to radio flux does not evolve over time. The sensitivity of our data cannot exclude photoevaporation due to the role of X-ray photons as an efficient mechanism for disk dispersal. Deeper surveys using the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will have the capacity to provide significant constraints to disk photoevaporation.

Massive star feedback in clusters: variation of the FUV interstellar radiation field in time and space

We investigate radiative feedback from a 34 M$_\odot$ star in a $10^4$ M$_\odot$ turbulent cloud using three-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamics (RHD) models. We use Monte Carlo radiative transfer to accurately compute photoionization equilibrium and radiation pressure, with multiple atomic species and silicate dust grains. We include the diffuse radiation field, dust absorption/re-emission, and scattering. The cloud is efficiently dispersed, with 75 per cent of the mass leaving the (32.3 pc)$^3$ grid within 4.3 Myr (1.1 $t_{ff}$). This compares to all mass exiting within 1.6 Myr (0.74 $t_{ff}$) in our previously published $10^3$ M$_\odot$ cloud. At most 20 per cent of the mass is ionized, compared to 40 per cent in the lower mass model, despite the ionized volume fraction being 80 per cent in both, implying the higher mass cloud is more resilient to feedback. The total Jeans-unstable mass increases linearly up to 1500 M$_\odot$ before plateauing after 2 Myr, corresponding to a core formation efficiency of 15 per cent. We also measure the time-variation of the far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation field, $G_0$, impinging on other cluster members, taking into account for the first time how this changes in a dynamic cluster environment with intervening opacity sources and stellar motions. Many objects remain shielded in the first 0.5 Myr whilst the massive star is embedded, after which $G_0$ increases by orders of magnitude. Gas motions later on cause comparable drops which happen instantaneously and last for $\sim$ 1 Myr before being restored. This highly variable UV field will influence the photoevaporation of protoplanetary discs near massive stars.

External photoevaporation of protoplanetary discs in Cygnus OB2: linking discs to star formation dynamical history

Many stars form in regions of enhanced stellar density, wherein the influence of stellar neighbours can have a strong influence on a protoplanetary disc (PPD) population. In particular, far ultraviolet (FUV) flux from massive stars drives thermal winds from the outer edge of PPDs, accelerating disc destruction. In this work, we present a novel technique for constraining the dynamical history of a star forming environment using PPD properties in a strongly FUV irradiated environment. Applying recent models for FUV induced mass loss rates to the PPD population of Cygnus OB2, we constrain how long ago primordial gas was expelled from the region; $ 0.5$ Myr ago if the Shakura & Sunyaev $\alpha$-viscosity parameter is $\alpha = 10^{-2}$ (corresponding to a viscous timescale of $\tau_\mathrm{visc} \approx 0.5$ Myr for a disc of scale radius $40$ au around a $1\, M_\odot$ star). This value of $\alpha$ is effectively an upper limit, since it assumes efficient extinction of FUV photons throughout the embedded phase. With this gas expulsion timescale we are able to produce a full dynamical model that fits kinematic and morphological data as well as disc fractions. We suggest Cygnus OB2 was originally composed of distinct massive clumps or filaments, each with a stellar mass $\sim 10^4 \, M_\odot$. Finally we predict that in regions of efficient FUV induced mass loss, disc mass $M_\mathrm{disc}$ as a function of stellar host mass $m_\mathrm{star}$ follows a power law with $M_\mathrm{disc} \propto m_\mathrm{star}^\beta$, where $\beta \gtrsim 2.7$ (depending on disc initial conditions and FUV exposure). This is steeper than observed correlations in regions of moderate FUV flux ($1 < \beta <1.9$), and offers a promising diagnostic to establish the influence of external photoevaporation in a given region.

The imprint of X-ray photoevaporation of planet-forming discs on the orbital distribution of giant planets

High energy radiation from a planet host star can have strong influence on the final habitability of a system through several mechanisms. In this context we have constructed a catalogue containing the X-ray luminosities, as well as basic stellar and planetary properties of all known stars hosting giant planets (> 0.1 Mjup) that have been observed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, XMM-Newton and/or ROSAT. Specifically in this paper we present a first application of this catalogue to search for a possible imprint of X-ray photoevaporation of planet-forming discs on the present-day orbital distribution of the observed giant planets. We found a suggestive void in the semi-major axis, a, versus X-ray luminosity, Lx, plane, roughly located between a ~ 0.05-1 au and Lx ~10^27-10^29 erg/s, which would be expected if photoevaporation played a dominant role in the migration history of these systems. However, due to the small observational sample size, the statistical significance of this feature cannot be proven at this point.

Ejection processes in the young open cluster NGC 2264

Context. Statistical studies of the spectral signatures of jets and winds in young stars are crucial to characterize outflows and understand their impact on disk and stellar evolution. The young, open cluster NGC 2264 contains hundreds of well-characterized classical T Tauri stars (CTTS), being thus an ideal site for these statistical studies. Its slightly older age than star forming regions studied in previous works, such as Taurus, allows us to investigate outflows in a different phase of CTTS evolution. Aims. We search for correlations between the [OI]λ6300 line, a well-known tracer of jets and winds in young stars, and stellar, disk and accretion properties in NGC 2264, aiming to characterize the outflow phenomena that occur within the circumstellar environment of young stars. Methods. We analyzed FLAMES spectra of 184 stars, detecting the [OI]λ6300 line in 108 CTTSs and two Herbig AeBe stars. We identified the main features of this line: a high-velocity component (HVC), and a broad and narrow low-velocity components (BLVC and NLVC). We calculated luminosities and kinematic properties of these components, then compared them with known stellar and accretion parameters. Results. The luminosity of the [OI]λ6300 line and its components correlate positively with the stellar and accretion luminosity. The HVC is only detected among systems with optically thick inner disks; the BLVC is most common among thick disk systems and rarer among systems with anemic disks and transition disks; and the NLVC is detected among systems with all types of disks, including transition disks. Our BLVCs present blueshifts of up to 50 km s−1 and widths consistent with disk winds originating between ~0.05 and ~0.5 au from the central object, while the NLVCs in our sample have widths compatible with an origin between ~0.5 and ~5 au, in agreement with previous studies in Taurus. A comparison of [OI]λ6300 profiles with CoRoT light curves shows that the HVC is found most often among sources with irregular, aperiodic photometric variability, usually associated with CTTSs accreting in an unstable regime. No stellar properties (Teff, mass, rotation) appear to significantly influence any property of protosellar jets. We find jet velocities on average similar to those found in Taurus. Conclusions. We confirm earlier findings in Taurus which favor an inner MHD disk wind as the origin of the BLVC, while there is no conclusive evidence that the NLVC traces photoevaporative disk winds. The [OI]λ6300 line profile shows signs of evolving as the disk disperses, with the HVC and BLVC disappearing as the inner disk becomes optically thin, in support of the scenario of inside-out gas dissipation in the inner disk.

Radiation Hydrodynamics Simulations of Photoevaporation of Protoplanetary Disks. II. Metallicity Dependence of UV and X-Ray Photoevaporation

Abstract We perform a suite of radiation hydrodynamics simulations of photoevaporating disks, varying the metallicity in a wide range of . We follow the disk evolution for over ∼5000 years by solving hydrodynamics, radiative transfer, and nonequilibrium chemistry. Our chemistry model is updated from the first paper of this series by adding X-ray ionization and heating. We study the metallicity dependence of the disk photoevaporation rate and examine the importance of X-ray radiation. In the fiducial case with solar metallicity, including the X-ray effects does not significantly increase the photoevaporation rate when compared to the case with ultraviolet (UV) radiation only. At subsolar metallicities in the range of , the photoevaporation rate increases as metallicity decreases owing to the reduced opacity of the disk medium. The result is consistent with the observational trend that disk lifetimes are shorter in low metallicity environments. In contrast, the photoevaporation rate decreases at even lower metallicities of , because dust–gas collisional cooling remains efficient compared to far-UV photoelectric heating whose efficiency depends on metallicity. The net cooling in the interior of the disk suppresses the photoevaporation. However, adding X-ray radiation significantly increases the photoevaporation rate, especially at . Although the X-ray radiation itself does not drive strong photoevaporative flows, X-rays penetrate deep into the neutral region in the disk, increase the ionization degree there, and reduce positive charges of grains. Consequently, the effect of photoelectric heating by far-UV radiation is strengthened by the X-rays and enhances the disk photoevaporation.

Slowing Down Type II Migration of Gas Giants to Match Observational Data

Abstract The mass and semimajor axis distribution of gas giants in exoplanetary systems obtained by radial velocity surveys shows that super-Jupiter-mass planets are piled up at ≳1 au, while Jupiter/sub-Jupiter-mass planets are broadly distributed from ∼0.03 au to beyond 1 au. This feature has not been explained by theoretical predictions. In order to reconcile this inconsistency, we investigate evolution of gas giants with a new type II migration formula by Kanagawa et al., by comparing the migration, growth timescales of gas giants, and disk lifetime, and by population synthesis simulation. While the classical migration model assumes that a gas giant opens up a clear gap in the protoplanetary disk and the planet migration is tied to the disk gas accretion, recent high-resolution simulations show that the migration of gap-opening planets is decoupled from the disk gas accretion and Kanagawa et al. proposed that type II migration speed is nothing other than type I migration speed with the reduced disk gas surface density in the gap. We show that with this new formula, type II migration is significantly reduced for super-Jupiter-mass planets, if the disk accretion is driven by the disk wind as suggested by recent magnetohydrodynamic simulations. Population synthesis simulations show that super-Jupiter-mass planets remain at ≳1 au without any additional ingredient such as disk photoevaporation. Therefore, the mystery of the pile-up of gas giants at ≳1 au will be theoretically solved if the new formula is confirmed and wind-driven disk accretion dominates.

Photoevaporation of protoplanetary gas discs due to flybys of external single stars in different orbits

During the evolution of proto-planetary disc, photo-evaporations of both central and external stars play important roles. Considering the complicated radiation surroundings in the clusters, where the star formed, the proto-planetary discs survive in different lifetimes due to flyby events. In this paper, we mainly focus on the disc around a T Tauri star, which encounters with another main-sequence star with different temperatures in hyperbolic orbits with different peri-center distances, eccentricities and inclinations. We find the criterion for gap-opening due to photo-evaporation of central star after the flyby event. A gap is opened in the late stage of gas disc, and induce that the gap only influence the planet formation and migration limitedly. If the flyby orbit has a moderate value of peri-center distance, which weakly depends on the eccentricity and inclination, the external photo-evaporation lead to a maximum mass loss during the flyby event. Flyby stars in orbits with smaller eccentricities or larger inclinations induce larger mass loss. Adopting a simple multiple flyby models, we conclude that in open clusters, gas discs usually survive in typical lifetimes between 1 and 10 Myr, except there are many massive stars in dense open clusters. In globular clusters, discs disperse very quickly and hardly produce the gas giant planets. The fast-depleted discs are probably responsible for the null detection of giant planets in globular clusters.

Multiple Feedback in Low-Metallicity Massive Star Formation

AbstractWe theoretically investigate the impact of feedback and its metallicity dependence in massive star formation from prestellar cores at all metallicity range. We include the feedback by MHD disk winds, radiation pressure, and photoevaporation solving the evolution of protostars and accretion flows self-consistently. Interestingly, we find that the feedback does not set the upper mass limit of stellar birth mass at any metallicity. At the solar metallicity, the MHD disk wind is the dominant feedback to set the star formation efficiencies (SFEs) from the prestellar cores similar to low-mass star formation. The SFE is found to be lower at lower surface density environment. The photoevaporation becomes significant at the low metallicity of Z &lt; 10−2 Z⊙. Considering this efficient photoevaporation, we conclude that the IMF slope is steeper, i.e., massive stars are rarer at the extremely metal-poor environment of 10−5 − 10−3Z⊙. Our study raises a question on the common assumption of the universal IMF with a truncated at 100M⊙. Since the total feedback strength in the cluster/galaxy scale is sensitive to the number fraction of massive stars, the re-evaluations of IMF at various environments are necessary.

Evolution and Photoevaporation of Protoplanetary Disks in Clusters with Hot Background Temperatures

Abstract We explore the influence of hot background temperatures in stellar clusters on the formation and evolution of photoevaporating disks. The disk forms from the gravitational collapse of a pre-stellar core. For a core with a relatively high temperature (&gt;40 K), the angular momentum of the core is expected to be low. In the core-collapse stage, most of core mass directly falls onto the central star or the disk near the star. External photoevaporation is ineffective in this environment. The viscosity in the disk dominates its evolution, which leads to a high efficiency of the mass and angular momentum transports. The disk properties are determined by the core properties. In the vicinity of massive stars with strong external FUV fields, the disk can still survive when the background temperature is high (∼100 K). We suggest that the diversity of the molecular cloud core properties may lead to the diverse properties of the disk photoevaporation in clusters. We also consistently interpret the findings in NGC 1333 that low-mass disks (0.002–0.004 M ☉) can exist in such young clusters (1–2 × 106 yr) with mild external photoevaporation.

Planet formation in discs with inclined binary companions: can primordial spin–orbit misalignment be produced?

Many hot Jupiter (HJ) systems have been observed to have their stellar spin axis misaligned with the planet's orbital angular momentum axis. The origin of this spin-orbit misalignment and the formation mechanism of HJs remain poorly understood. A number of recent works have suggested that gravitational interactions between host stars, protoplanetary disks, and inclined binary companions may tilt the stellar spin axis with respect to the disk's angular angular momentum axis, producing planetary systems with misaligned orbits. These previous works considered idealized disk evolution models and neglected the gravitational influence of newly formed planets. In this paper, we explore how disk photoevaporation and planet formation and migration affect the inclination evolution of planet-star-disk-binary systems. We take into account planet-disk interactions and the gravitational spin-orbit coupling between the host star and the planet. We find that the rapid depletion of the inner disk via photoevaporation reduces the excitation of stellar obliquities. Depending on the formation and migration history of HJs, the spin-orbit coupling between the star and the planet may reduces and even completely suppress the excitation of stellar obliquities. Our work constrains the formation/migration history of HJs. On the other hand, planetary systems with "cold" Jupiters or close-in super-earths may experience excitation of stellar obliquities in the presence of distant inclined companions.

The comparative effect of FUV, EUV and X-ray disc photoevaporation on gas giant separations

Gas giants' early ($\lesssim 5$ Myr) orbital evolution occurs in a disc losing mass in part to photoevaporation driven by high energy irradiance from the host star. This process may ultimately overcome viscous accretion to disperse the disc and halt migrating giants by starving their orbits of gas, imprinting on giant planet separations in evolved systems. Inversion of this distribution could then give insight into whether stellar FUV, EUV or X-ray flux dominates photoevaporation, constraining planet formation and disc evolution models. We use a 1D hydrodynamic code in population syntheses for gas giants undergoing Type II migration in a viscously evolving disc subject to either a primarily FUV, EUV or X-ray flux from a pre-solar T Tauri star. The photoevaporative mass loss profile's unique peak location and width in each energetic regime produces characteristic features in the distribution of giant separations: a severe dearth of $\lesssim$ 2 M$_{\rm J}$ planets interior to 5 AU in the FUV scenario, a sharp concentration of $\lesssim$ 3 M$_{\rm J}$ planets between $\approx 1.5 - 2$ AU in the EUV case, and a relative abundance of $\approx 2 - 3.5$ M$_{\rm J}$ giants interior to 0.5 AU in the X-ray model. These features do not resemble the observational sample of gas giants with mass constraints, though our results do show some weaker qualitative similarities. We thus assess how the differing photoevaporative profiles interact with migrating giants and address the effects of large model uncertainties as a step to better connect disc models with trends in the exoplanet population.