Streams and Bubbles: Tidal Shaping of Hydrodynamic Planetary Outflows

Abstract Planets, especially those close to their host stars, lose mass to atmospheric outflows, a process that is thought to shape the bimodal population of gaseous giant and rocky terrestrial exoplanets in close orbits. We model the hydrodynamic escape of planetary atmospheres in idealized, three-dimensional gas dynamic simulations in order to study their emergent morphology. As we vary the simulated system parameters, model outflows show a range of shapes from fast, isotropic outflows bounded by bow shocks to slower motion confined to thin streams. We show that a crucial factor is the role of the tidal gravity and orbiting reference frame in which planets lose mass. Flows can be characterized by the dimensionless Rossby number evaluated at the scale of the Hill sphere. Flows with a low Rossby number are significantly deviated and shaped by the stellar gravity, while those with a high Rossby number are comparatively unaffected. Rossby number alone is sufficient to predict outflow morphology as well as kinematic gradients across transit. Hydrodynamic outflows from the known exoplanet population should span a range of outflow Rossby numbers and therefore exhibit a range of morphologies. In realistic systems, shaping from gravity and hydrodynamics alone can be supplemented by the effects of stellar-wind collisions and magnetic stresses.