Bibcode
Wang, Mu-Tian; Dai, Fei; Liu, Hui-Gen; Chen, Howard; Hu, Zhecheng; Petigura, Erik; Giacalone, Steven; Lee, Eve; Goldberg, Max; Leleu, Adrien; Mann, Andrew W.; Barber, Madyson G.; Winn, Joshua N.; Collins, Karen A.; Watkins, Cristilyn N.; Schwarz, Richard P.; Relles, Howard M.; Wilkin, Francis P.; Palle, Enric; Murgas, Felipe; Shporer, Avi; Sefako, Ramotholo; Horne, Keith; Osborn, Hugh P.; Alibert, Yann; Fossati, Luca; Fortier, Andrea; Sousa, Sérgio; Brandeker, Alexis; Maxted, Pierre; Goldenberg, Alexia
Bibliographical reference
Nature Astronomy
Advertised on:
6
2026
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
Young exoplanets provide vital insights into the early dynamical and atmospheric evolution of planetary systems. Many multi-planet systems younger than 100 Myr exhibit mean-motion resonances, probably established through convergent disk migration. Over time, however, these resonant chains are often disrupted, mirroring the Nice model proposed for the Solar System. Here we present a detailed characterization of the ~200-Myr-old TOI-2076 system, which contains four sub-Neptune planets between 1.4 and 3.5 Earth radii. We demonstrate that its planets are near to but not locked in mean-motion resonances, making the system dynamically fragile. The four planets have comparable core masses but display a monotonic increase in hydrogen and helium (H/He) envelope mass fractions (from stripped to 1%, 5% and 5%) with decreasing stellar insolation. This trend is consistent with atmospheric mass loss due to photoevaporation, which predicts that the envelopes of irradiated planets either erode completely or stabilize at a residual level of ~1% by mass within the first few hundred million years, with more distant, less-irradiated planets retaining most of their primordial envelopes. Additionally, previous detections of metastable helium outflows rule out a pure water-world scenario for the TOI-2076 planets. Our finding provides direct observational evidence that the dynamical and atmospheric reshaping of compact planetary systems begins early and offers an empirical anchor for models of their long-term evolution.