Age Distribution of Exoplanet Host Stars: Chemical and Kinematic Age Proxies from GAIA DR3

Abstract

The GAIA space mission is impacting astronomy in many significant ways by providing a uniform, homogeneous, and precise data set for over 1 billion stars and other celestial objects in the Milky Way and beyond. Exoplanet science has greatly benefited from the unprecedented accuracy of the stellar parameters obtained from GAIA. In this study, we combine photometric, astrometric, and spectroscopic data from the most recent Gaia DR3 to examine the kinematic and chemical age proxies for a large sample of 2611 exoplanets hosting stars whose parameters have been determined uniformly. Using spectroscopic data from the Radial Velocity Spectrometer on board GAIA, we show that stars hosting massive planets are metal-rich and α-poor in comparison to stars hosting small planets. The kinematic analysis of the sample reveals that stellar systems with small planets and those with giant planets differ in key aspects of galactic space velocity and orbital parameters, which are indicative of age. We find that the galactic orbital parameters have a statistically significant difference of 0.06 kpc for Zmax and 0.03 for eccentricity, respectively. Furthermore, we estimated the stellar ages of the sample using the MIST-MESA isochrone models. The ages and their proxies for the planet-hosting stars indicate that the hosts of giant planetary systems are younger when compared to the population of stars harboring small planets. These age trends are also consistent with the chemical evolution of the galaxy and the formation of giant planets from the core-accretion process.