Thermal structure and evolution of tidally-locked Super Earths

Over 260 extrasolar planets have been discovered, many of which are massive (often many times the mass of Jupiter) and orbiting very close to their parent star. Of particular interest to researchers, however, are the handful of discovered planets that are within 20 Earth masses, due to their potential for habitability. We present a model of the internal temperature structure of such tidally-locked 'Super Earth' exoplanets. The planets of interest have a terrestrial, rocky composition, with a hot side facing its star at all times, and a cold side facing away. Heat circulation through an atmosphere is assumed to be negligible due to the planets' proximity to the star, which causes potential atmospheres to be evaporated; therefore, the primary modes of heat transfer within the planet are convection and conduction, with absorption on the hot side of the flux from the star, and black-body radiation to space in all directions. We have modified a spherical axisymmetric version of the finite element code ConMan (SSAXC), which was first created to model the internal thermal evolution of Earth's mantle. The results from this code are plotted and a thermal profile, with potentially molten rock on one side and very cool rock on the other with a temperature gradient connecting the two, allows us to determine where potentially habitable regions would exist on the planet. Finally, an approximation of what typical mantle rocks would be melted at predicted temperatures and pressures are compared with these plotted internal gradients.