Evolutionary Models of Young Jupiters and Hot Jupiters

在这里进行的研究围绕着巨型行星的结构和演化模型，这些模型可以用来将巨型系外行星的观测与质量和半径等基本属性联系起来。首先，将进行建模工作，以自洽的方式计算年轻巨行星在一定质量范围内的热演化，即与核心吸积模型相结合，而不是目前使用的任意初始条件。从这些模型中，可以计算出光谱和颜色，从而更准确地确定围绕其他恒星运行的年轻天体的质量。第二个项目将探索最近对氢状态方程的修订，以评估模型半径的相应变化。这表明，在给定的年龄，这种变化导致了更大的半径，并且在凌日的系外巨行星中看到的广泛分布的半径可能被理解为内部重元素丰度与内部能源需求的大范围。这项工作将提高未来空间任务的回报，以定位太阳系外行星，以及通过观测更准确地确定基本性质的地面努力。这里的模型也将作为最终探测到类地行星的垫脚石。这项工作的结果将公布在seti研究所的网站上，并通过流行期刊上的文章向公众传播。

The research to be conducted here centers around models for the structure and evolutionof giant planets which can be used to relate observations of giant exoplanets tofundamental properties such as mass and radius. First, a modeling effort will beundertaken to compute the thermal evolution of young giant planets over a range ofmasses in a self-consistent way, i.e., coupled with core accretion models, rather than withthe arbitrary initial conditions currently used. From these models, both spectra and colorswill be calculated to allow for more accurate determinations of the masses of youngobjects found orbiting other stars. A second project will explore recent revisions in theequation of state for hydrogen to evaluate the corresponding changes in model radius. Itis suggested that this change leads to larger radii at a given age and that the wide spreadin radii seen among transiting extrasolar giant planets may be understood in terms of alarge range in interior heavy element abundances versus the need for internal energysources.This work will improve the return of future space missions to locate extrasolar planets aswell as efforts from the ground by enabling more accurate determinations of basicproperties from observations. The models here will also serve as a stepping stone to theeventual detection of Earth-like planets. The results of this work will be posted on theSETI Institute website and disseminated to the public through articles in popular journals.