Cited by 635Stellar, planetary, and galactic studiesAstro and Planetary ScienceAstronomy and Astrophysical Research

The Occurrence and Mass Distribution of Close-in Super-Earths, Neptunes, and Jupiters

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Howard, Andrew W., Marcy, Geoffrey W., Johnson, John Asher, Fischer, Debra A., Wright, Jason T., Isaacson, Howard, Valenti, Jeff A., Anderson, Jay +2 more·2010·Science

Abstract

The questions of how planets form and how common Earth-like planets are can be addressed by measuring the distribution of exoplanet masses and orbital periods. We report the occurrence rate of close-in planets (with orbital periods less than 50 days), based on precise Doppler measurements of 166 Sun-like stars. We measured increasing planet occurrence with decreasing planet mass (M). Extrapolation of a power-law mass distribution fitted to our measurements, df/dlogM = 0.39 M(-0.48), predicts that 23% of stars harbor a close-in Earth-mass planet (ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 Earth masses). Theoretical models of planet formation predict a deficit of planets in the domain from 5 to 30 Earth masses and with orbital periods less than 50 days. This region of parameter space is in fact well populated, implying that such models need substantial revision.

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  • Super-Earths are more common than giant planets: ∼40% of stars have at least one super-Earth within a fifty day orbital period, whereas only ∼10% of stars have giant planets at any orbital period.

    “Super-Earths are more common than giant planets. ∼ 40% of stars have at least one super-Earth within a fifty day orbital period (Howard et al. 2010), whereas only ∼ 10% of stars have giant planets at any orbital period (e.g., Cumming et al. 2008, Zechmeister et al. 2013).”

    From Origins of Hot Jupiters (2018) · cites this paper as Howard et al. 2010

    Howard et al. report that close-in planets become more common as planet mass decreases, supporting the qualitative comparison. But for 3–30 Earth-mass planets with periods under 50 days, they report an occurrence rate of 15% (95% upper limit: 24%), not approximately 40%. The approximately 10% giant-planet figure is cited separately to other papers in the citing sentence. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • About one in ten giant planet systems contains a hot Jupiter, with the giant planet occurrence rate dropping sharply within 200 days.

    “About one in ten giant planet systems contains a hot Jupiter (Howard et al. 2010, Mayor et al. 2011, cf Wright et al. 2012 and Guo et al. 2017 regarding the apparent discrepancy between RV surveys and Kepler HJ occurrence rates), with the giant planet occurrence rate dropping sharply within 200 days (Fig. 4).”

    From Origins of Hot Jupiters (2018) · cites this paper as Howard et al. 2010

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Research works printed but not linked: 30

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Authors
Howard, A. W., Marcy, G. W., Johnson, J. A., Fischer, D. A., Wright, J. T., Isaacson, H., Valenti, J. A., Anderson, J., Lin, D. N. C., & Ida, S.
Affiliations
  • Space Sciences Laboratory (US)
  • University of California, Berkeley (US)
  • California Institute of Technology (US)
  • Yale University (US)
  • Pennsylvania State University (US)
  • Space Telescope Science Institute (US)
  • University of California Observatories/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
  • Tokyo Institute of Technology (JP)
Corresponding author
Howard, Andrew W.
Venue
Science
Published
2010-10-29
Volume
330
Issue
6004
Pages
653-655
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W2031513034
Cited by
635
References
1
Citations by year
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FWCI
32.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
  • American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #217
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Instrumentation › Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
Keywords
exoplanet occurrence, close-in planets, super-Earths, Neptune, Jupiter, planet mass distribution, orbital period distribution, Earth-mass planets, solar-type stars, Doppler spectroscopy, planet formation models, power-law mass distribution

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