![\"Wind](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Wind-accretion-.png\")
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\n Evolution of the stellar mass-loss rate (\ud835\udc40\u0307 w) and wind velocity (\ud835\udc63w) obtained from our 2 M\u2299 stellar model. The left panels show the complete evolution of \ud835\udc40\u0307w and \ud835\udc63w through the RGB to the TPAGB phases, while the right panels focus specifically on the TPAGB evolutionary phase. \u2014 astro-ph.EP <\/p>\n
As stars evolve, they undergo significant changes in their physical properties, which can have a profound impact on the planets orbiting them.<\/p>\n
In particular, the mass lost through stellar wind may be partially accreted by orbiting planets. We present the results of 18 simulations of one-planet systems with planetary masses of 0.5, 1, 2.5, 5, 10, and 13~MJ, each at initial orbital distances of 5, 10, and 20~AU, orbiting a 2~M\u2299 star through its red giant branch and thermally pulsating asymptotic giant branch phases.<\/p>\n
Our results show that planets with smaller orbits and higher masses accrete more stellar wind material than their wider-orbit and lower-mass counterparts, although the total mass accreted across all simulations remains small compared to their initial planetary mass.<\/p>\n
Even for the most massive planet, 13 MJ at 5 AU, the total mass accreted was \u223c0.56% of the planet\u2019s initial mass; nevertheless, we find that the accretion luminosities of the simulated planets, with the exception of one planet, exceed their expected equilibrium luminosities, suggesting that such emission could be potentially detected.<\/p>\n
This result is key for the detection of planets around AGB stars, which have no confirmed detections as of yet. We also estimated the accretion and luminosities of two detected two-planet systems over a few orbits, obtaining results consistent with the one-planet simulated systems.<\/p>\n
Additional tests without wind accretion and with stellar wind drag force showed that, while both have a negligible effect on the orbital evolution, wind accretion remains relevant for the planetary luminosity.<\/p>\n
P. Padilla-L\u00f3pez, R. F. Maldonado, J. A. Toal\u00e1, E. Tejeda, J. B. Rodr\u00edquez-Gonz\u00e1lez<\/p>\n
Comments: 14 pages, 13 figures, accepted in RMxAA for publication
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Cite as: arXiv:2603.18525 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2603.18525v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
https:\/\/doi.org\/10.48550\/arXiv.2603.18525<\/a>
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Submission history
From: Paulina Padilla L\u00f3pez
[v1] Thu, 19 Mar 2026 06:14:40 UTC (5,636 KB)
https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2603.18525<\/a>
Astrobiology, exoplanet,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Evolution of the stellar mass-loss rate (\ud835\udc40\u0307 w) and wind velocity (\ud835\udc63w) obtained from our 2 M\u2299 stellar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[77],"tags":[163975,18,18060,172903,19,17,133,14001],"class_list":["post-397254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-astro-ph-ep","tag-eire","tag-exoplanet","tag-https-astrobiology-com-2026-03-astrogeology","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-space-weather"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116269500590904443","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}