Astrophysics (Index)About

photoevaporation

(dispersal of a gas from UV radiation)

The term photoevaporation in astronomy is the dispersal of a gas by the energy of XEUV radiation. (Thus it is not "evaporation" in the sense of a liquid changing to a gas.) The term is used for such dispersal from molecular clouds, protoplanetary disks, and the atmosphere of planets (atmospheric escape). Due to this process, extra-solar planets close enough to stars emitting significant ultraviolet radiation are expected to have lost their atmospheres.


(physics,materials,EMR)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoevaporation
https://jila.colorado.edu/~pja/araa.html
https://www2.physik.uni-muenchen.de/lehre/vorlesungen/sose_22/Emergence-of-Life-in-the-Universe1/Lecture_4_slides.pdf

Referenced by pages:
atmosphere formation
evaporating gas globule (EGG)
evaporation
Fulton gap
protoplanetary disk (PPD)
super-Earth
XEUV

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