Nearly half of all known 'Hot Jupiter' planets are on a one-way trip to being swallowed by their host stars.
March 31, 2026
Original Paper
Planet-star interactions with precise transit timing. V. Tidal decay of hot Jupiters through wave breaking
arXiv · 2603.28157
The Takeaway
New models show that internal waves inside stars eventually 'break' like ocean waves, creating a drag that pulls nearby giant planets inward. This discovery explains the mystery of why we rarely find these massive planets around older stars—the stars have already eaten them.
From the abstract
Tidal interactions shape the evolution of close-in giant planets and internal gravity-wave breaking offers an efficient pathway for dynamical-tide dissipation, although its population-wide impact remains poorly constrained. We aim to quantify wave-breaking tidal dissipation for 550 hot Jupiters, accounting for stellar-parameter uncertainties. We also aim to identify the most promising systems for detecting orbital decay through transit timing.\\ Stellar masses, radii, and ages were homogeneously