Simulations of Hot Jupiter Exoplanet Atmospheres with Varying Stellar Luminosity

Atmospheres of hot Jupiter type exoplanets can, under some circumstances, be evaporated away by their host star. Here, we investigate how the luminosity of a planet’s host star changes the mass loss rate of its atmosphere. To do this, simulations of hot Jupiter type exoplanets were performed using the PLUTO software, with each simulation having a different stellar luminosity as planet parameters were held constant. The results of these simulations support the idea that stars with higher luminosities cause the atmospheres of their planets to evaporate more quickly than those of a lower luminosity. The nature of the relationship between stellar luminosity and the atmospheric mass-loss rate seems to be linear from our investigations thus far.