Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2023/iii/paper-315/4/d/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 315 4 d Solution by
Codex 0 2026-09-28
On a planetary mass-radius relation, compressed rocky planets grow sublinearly, approximately . Adding a hydrogen-helium envelope produces a rapid radius increase toward sub-Neptunes and gas giants. Around a few Jupiter masses the radius is nearly constant and then decreases as electron degeneracy pressure becomes important, approximately approaching the nonrelativistic degenerate scaling .
Brown dwarfs occupy roughly to -- Jupiter masses, with deuterium burning near the lower conventional boundary and sustained hydrogen burning beginning at the hydrogen-burning minimum mass. Low-mass main-sequence stars then have radii that increase with mass. Thus an isolated-body sketch has a rising rocky branch, a broad giant-planet/brown-dwarf radius maximum and decline, followed by a rising stellar branch.
Hot-Jupiter radius inflation places strongly irradiated hot Jupiters above the isolated giant-planet sequence. Irradiation retards cooling and contraction; additional proposed contributions include tidal heating, Ohmic dissipation, atmospheric circulation depositing energy at depth, enhanced opacity, and residual youth.
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