Evolutionary Models of Young Jupiters and Hot Jupiters

这里要进行的研究以巨行星的结构和演化模型为中心，该模型可用于将巨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，而不是与当前使用的任意初始条件相结合。根据这些模型，光谱和颜色都将被计算出来，以便更准确地确定绕其他恒星运行的年轻天体的质量。第二个项目将探索氢状态方程的最新修订，以评估模型半径的相应变化。有人认为，这种变化导致了给定年龄的半径更大，凌日巨行星半径的广泛分布可以从内部重元素丰度与内部能源需求的大范围来理解。这项工作将改善未来定位太阳系外行星的太空任务的回报，以及通过更准确地确定观测的基本属性来改善地面工作。这里的模型也将作为最终探测类地行星的垫脚石。这项工作的结果将发布在 SETI 研究所网站上，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.