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      Constraining the interior of extrasolar giant planets with the tidal Love number k_2 using the example of HAT-P-13b

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          Abstract

          Transit and radial velocity observations continuously discover an increasing number of exoplanets. However, when it comes to the composition of the observed planets the data are compatible with several interior structure models. Thus, a planetary parameter sensitive to the planet's density distribution could help constrain this large number of possible models even further. We aim to investigate to what extent an exoplanet's interior can be constrained in terms of core mass and envelope metallicity by taking the tidal Love number k_2 into account as an additional possibly observable parameter. Because it is the only planet with an observationally determined k_2, we constructed interior models for the Hot Jupiter exoplanet HAT-P-13b by solving the equations of hydrostatic equilibrium and mass conservation for different boundary conditions. In particular, we varied the surface temperature and the outer temperature profile, as well as the envelope metallicity within the widest possible parameter range. We also considered atmospheric conditions that are consistent with nongray atmosphere models. For all these models we calculated the Love number k_2 and compared it to the allowed range of k_2 values that could be obtained from eccentricity measurements of HAT-P-13b. We use the example of HAT-P-13b to show the general relationships between the quantities temperature, envelope metallicity, core mass, and Love number of a planet. For any given k_2 value a maximum possible core mass can be determined. For HAT-P-13b we find Mcore < 27 ME, based on the latest eccentricity measurement. We are able to constrain both the envelope and bulk metallicity of HAT-P-13b to 1 -- 11 times stellar metallicity and the extension of the isothermal layer in the planet's atmosphere to 3 -- 44 bar. Assuming equilibrium tidal theory, we find lower limits on the tidal Q consistent with 10^3 - 10^5.

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          Solar Models with Helium and Heavy Element Diffusion

          Heavy element and helium diffusion are both included for the first time in this series of papers on precise solar models, along with improvements in the input data for nuclear reaction rates, the solar luminosity, the solar age, heavy element abundances, radiative opacities, helium and metal diffusion rates, and neutrino interaction cross sections. The calculated neutrino event rates, including all of the improvements, are \(9.3_{-1.4}^{+1.2}\) SNU for the \hbox{\(^{37}\)Cl} experimentand \(137_{-7}^{+8} \) SNU for the \hbox{\(^{71}\)Ga} experiments. The calculated flux of \hbox{\(^{7}\)Be} neutrinos is \(5.1(1.00_{-0.07}^{+0.06}) \times 10^{9}~{\rm cm^{-2}s^{-1}}\) and the flux of \({\rm ^8B}\) neutrinos is \(6.5 (1.00_{-0.17}^{+0.14})\times 10^{6}~{\rm cm^{-2}s^{-1}}\). The present-day surface helium abundance of the model is \(Y_s = 0.247\), in agreement with the helioseismological measurement of \(Y_s = 0.242 \pm 0.003\) determined by Hernandez and Christensen-Dalsgaard (1994). The computed depth of the convective zone is \hbox{\(R = 0.712~ R_{\odot}\)} in agreement with the observed value determined from \(p\)-mode oscillation data of \hbox{\(R = 0.713 \pm 0.003~ R_{\odot}\)} found by Christensen-Dalsgaard {\it et al.}~(1991). Solar models that do not include diffusion disagree with the helioseismology measurements. Although the present results increase the predicted event rate in the four operating solar neutrino experiments by almost \(1\sigma\) (theoretical uncertainty), they only slightly increase the difficulty of explaining the existing experiments with standard physics (i.e., by assuming that nothing happens to the neutrinos after they are created in the center of the sun).
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            Journal
            10.1051/0004-6361/201118141
            1112.2087

            Planetary astrophysics
            Planetary astrophysics

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