ORCHARD: A General Planetary Evolution Code
Abstract
We present ORCHARD, a publicly available planetary evolution code based on the gas giant evolution code, APPLE, capable of modeling the evolution and structures of terrestrial, super-Earth, sub-Neptune, Neptune, and gas giant planets and exoplanets from 0.5 M to 10 MJ. It supports not only the inhomogeneous and non-adiabatic evolution of gas giants and sub-Neptunes, but also the solidification of the mantles and cores of terrestrial planets, sub-Neptunes, and super-Earths. ORCHARD incorporates a state-of-the-art hydrogen-helium equation of state, ``metal" equations of state (water, ice mixtures, enstatite/perovskite, olivine/forsterite, iron), and atmospheric boundary conditions ranging from detailed non-gray radiative transfer models for Solar System giants to irradiated sub-Neptune atmospheres and bare rocky surfaces. The purpose of ORCHARD is to provide the scientific community with a flexible, unified tool for modeling planetary structures and evolution across the entire mass continuum of general astrophysical and planetary interest.
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