The Maximum Density of a Collisionally-Produced Planet is A Function of its Mass and Orbital Period

Clicks: 4
ID: 322332
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal

Ranked #115 of 908 articles by views in monthly notices of the royal astronomical society

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 908 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Abstract There are many different theoretical explanations for the formation of high-density Mercury-like planets, but concrete evidence for any of these formation mechanisms remains elusive. A popular explanation for dense planets is the collisional hypothesis, which states that iron-rich planets can be formed as the products of high-energy, mantle-stripping impacts. Planetesimal collision simulations predict that higher-velocity collisions can form higher-density planets. Motivated by the characteristics of the high-density, short-period (P ≈ 0.3d) GJ 367 b, we study the results of previously-published smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations on exoplanet collisions, combining these with models describing the likely collision velocities of these objects, to investigate the relationship between the core mass fractions (CMFs) of exoplanets, their masses, and their orbital periods. We predict that collisionally-produced super-Mercuries should be more common (and more dense) at low masses and short orbital periods. This correlation may enable us to pinpoint the formation mechanism of super-Mercuries as the population of observed targets grows. Afterwards, we connect our hypothesis to the observed Mercury-like population of high-density exoplanets, and find that GJ 367 b is the best exoplanetary candidate for collisional formation.
Reference Key
openalex_W7170164551 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Madison Brady, Darryl Z. Seligman
Journal monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stag1397
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag1397
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.