Exoplanet Fulton Gap

In 1995, the first exoplanet was discovered outside our solar system. To date, more than 4,000 planets have been discovered outside our solar system. These numerous exoplanets are diverse and include planets the size of Jupiter orbiting very close to their stars and planets with elliptical orbits that are far from circular. 4,000 planets are statistically more or less likely to have a large variety of its size and mass. One can find a very small population of planets at a certain size range, so called “the Fulton gap”.

A small number of planets at a certain size range means two major groups corresponding to a large number of large planets and small planets of a certain size. The goal and motivation of this research is to understand the physics and the evolution of the exoplanets using numerical simulations; How the larger planets have more atmosphere, while the smaller planets lose their atmosphere to space.

(Ryo Katada, Master’s course 1st)