Oxygen left behind: atmospheric enrichment due to fractionation in sub-Neptunes using BOREAS
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Valatsou, Marilina
Dorn, Caroline
Marty, Pierlou
Owen, James E
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The evolution of exoplanetary atmospheres is strongly influenced by atmospheric escape, particularly for close-in planets. Fractionation during atmospheric loss can preferentially remove lighter elements such as hydrogen, while retaining heavier species like oxygen. In this study, we investigate how and under what conditions hydrodynamic escape and chemical fractionation jointly shape the mass and composition of exoplanet atmospheres, especially for mixed H2+H2O atmospheres. We develop BOREAS, a self-consistent mass-loss model coupling a one-dimensional Parker wind formulation with a mass-dependent fractionation scheme, which we apply across a range of planet masses, radii, equilibrium temperatures, and incident X-ray and ultraviolet (XUV) fluxes, allowing us to track hydrogen and oxygen escape rates at different snapshots in time. We find that oxygen is efficiently retained over most of the parameter space. Significant oxygen loss occurs under high incident XUV fluxes, while at intermediate fluxes oxygen loss is largely confined to low-gravity planets. Where oxygen is retained, irradiation is too weak to drive significant escape of hydrogen, thus limiting atmospheric enrichment. By contrast, our model predicts that sub-Neptunes undergo substantial atmospheric enrichment over ∼200 Myr when hydrogen escape is efficient and accompanied by partial oxygen entrainment. Notably, our results imply that sub-Neptunes near the radius valley can evolve into water-rich planets, in agreement with GJ 9827d. Present-day water-rich atmospheres may have originated from water-poor envelopes under some conditions, highlighting the need to include chemical fractionation in evolution models. BOREAS is publicly available.
Date Issued
2026-05-01
Date Acceptance
2026-03-10
Citation
The Astrophysical Journal, 2026, 1002 (1)
ISSN
0004-637X
Publisher
American Astronomical Society
Start Page
53
End Page
53
Journal / Book Title
The Astrophysical Journal
Volume
1002
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2026. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
License URL
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
53
Date Publish Online
2026-04-24