Toward a Deterministic Model of Planetary Formation. III. Mass Distribution of Short‐Period Planets around Stars of Various Masses

Abstract

The origin of a recently discovered close-in Neptune-mass planet around GJ436 poses a challenge to the current theories of planet formation. Based on the sequential accretion hypothesis and the standard theory of gap formation and orbital migration, we show that around M dwarf stars, close-in Neptune-mass ice-giant planets may be relatively common, while close-in Jupiter-mass gas-giant planets are relatively rare. The mass distribution of close-in planets generally has two peaks at about Neptune mass and Jupiter mass. The lower-mass peak takes the maximum frequency for M dwarfs. Around more massive solar-type stars (G dwarfs), the higher-mass peak is much more pronounced. These are because planets tend to undergo type II migration after fully accreting gas around G dwarfs while they tend to migrate faster than gas accretion around M stars. Close-in Neptune-mass planets may also exist around G dwarfs, though they tend to be mostly composed of silicates and iron cores and their frequency is expected to be much smaller than that of Neptune-mass planets around M dwarfs and that of gas giants around G dwarfs. We also show that the conditions for planets' migration due to their tidal interaction with the disk and the stellar-mass dependence in the disk-mass distribution can be calibrated by the mass distribution of short-period planets around host stars with various masses.