Core-powered mass loss

This article relies on a single source. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Core-powered mass loss" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2026) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Core-powered mass loss refers to the loss of atmosphere of super-Earths and sub-Neptunes due to the heat from their rocky cores. It is an alternative mechanism to photoevaporation to explain the small planet radius gap.^[1]

References

Exoplanets

Main topics

Sizes
and
types

Terrestrial	Carbon planet Catastrophically evaporating planet Coreless planet Desert planet Dwarf planet Hycean planet Ice planet Iron planet (Super-Mercury) Lava planet Ocean world Mega-Earth Steam world Sub-Earth Super-Earth Titan-like Venus-like
Gaseous	Cold Jupiter Eccentric Jupiter Mini-Neptune (Gas dwarf) Helium planet Hot Jupiter Hot Neptune Gas giant Ice giant Neptunian Jupiter analogue Super-Jupiter Super-Neptune Super-puff Ultra-hot Jupiter Ultra-hot Neptune Warm Jupiter
Other types	Brown dwarf Chthonian planet Circumbinary planet Circumtriple planet Disrupted planet Double planet Ecumenopolis Eyeball planet Giant planet Mesoplanet Planemo Planet/Brown dwarf boundary Planetesimal Protoplanet Second generation planet Sub-brown dwarf Sub-Neptune Toroidal planet Ultra-cool dwarf Ultra-short period planet (USP)