Composition of super-Earths, super-Mercuries, and their host stars
Abstract
Because of their common origin, it was assumed that the composition of planet building blocks should, to a first order, correlate with stellar atmospheric composition, especially for refractory elements. In fact, information on the relative abundance of refractory and major rock-forming elements such as Fe, Mg, Si has been commonly used to improve interior estimates for terrestrial planets. Recently Adibekyan et al. (2021) presented evidence of a tight chemical link between rocky planets and their host stars. In this study we add six recently discovered exoplanets to the sample of Adibekyan et al and re-evaluate their findings in light of these new data. We confirm that i) iron-mass fraction of rocky exoplanets correlates (but not a 1:1 relationship) with the composition of their host stars, ii) on average the iron-mass fraction of planets is higher than that of the primordial f star iron, iii) super-Mercuries are formed in disks with high iron content. Based on these results we conclude that disk-chemistry and planet formation processes play an important role in the composition, formation, and evolution of super-Earths and super-Mercuries.
- Publication:
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Communications of the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory
- Pub Date:
- December 2021
- DOI:
- 10.52526/25792776-2021.68.2-447
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2112.14512
- Bibcode:
- 2021CoBAO..68..447A
- Keywords:
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- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Peer-reviewed conference (Astronomy in the Crossroads of Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Sciences) proceeding