The Occurrence and Mass Distribution of Close-in Super-Earths, Neptunes, and Jupiters
Creators
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1.
University of California, Berkeley
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2.
California Institute of Technology
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3.
Yale University
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Pennsylvania State University
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Space Telescope Science Institute
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University of California, Santa Cruz
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7.
Peking University
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.
Additional Information
© 2010 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 8 July 2010; accepted 27 September 2010. This work was based on observations at the W. M. Keck Observatory granted by NASA and the University of California (UC). We thank the many observers who contributed to the measurements reported here and acknowledge the efforts and dedication of the Keck Observatory staff, especially S. Dahm, H. Tran, and G. Hill for support of HIRES and G. Wirth for support of remote observing. We acknowledge R. P. Butler and S. Vogt for many years of contributing to the data presented here. A.H. acknowledges support from a Townes Postdoctoral Fellowship at the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory. G.M. acknowledges NASA grant NNX06AH52G. Finally, we extend special thanks to those of Hawai`ian ancestry on whose sacred mountain of Mauna Kea we are privileged to be guests.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - Howard.SOM.pdf
Updated - 1011.0143.pdf
Files
1011.0143.pdf
Additional details
Identifiers
- Eprint ID
- 21011
- DOI
- 10.1126/science.1194854
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20101124-083910202
Related works
- Describes
- 10.1126/science.1194854 (DOI)
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1011.0143 (URL)
Funding
- UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory
- NASA
- NNX06AH52G
Dates
- Created
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2010-11-24Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field