Recent studies regarding the habitability, observability, and possible orbital evolution of the indirectly detected exoplanet Proxima b have mostly assumed a planet with M similar to 1.3 M-circle plus, a rocky composition, and an Earth-like atmosphere or none at all. In order to assess these assumptions, we use previous studies of the radii, masses, and compositions of super-Earth exoplanets to probabilistically constrain the mass and radius of Proxima. b, assuming an isotropic inclination probability distribution. We find it is similar to 90% likely that the planet's density is consistent with a rocky composition; conversely, it is at least 10% likely that the planet has a significant amount of ice or an H/He envelope. If the planet does have a rocky composition, then we find expectation values and 95% confidence intervals of < M >(rocky) = 1.63(-0.72)(+1.66) M-circle plus for its mass and < R >(rocky) = 1.07(-0.31)(+0.38) R-circle plus for its radius.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/623234 |
| Date | 21 February 2017 |
| Creators | Bixel, Alex, Apai, Dániel |
| Contributors | Univ Arizona, Dept Planetary Sci, Lunar & Planetary Lab |
| Publisher | IOP PUBLISHING LTD |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article |
| Rights | © 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. |
| Relation | http://stacks.iop.org/2041-8205/836/i=2/a=L31?key=crossref.2a2b7c74330550df6f94c8a5751a0e37 |
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