{
  "abstract": "Empirical relations and planet formation simulations suggest an upper mass limit for rocky planets of $\\sim$10M$_{\\oplus}$, as cores above this will almost certainly undergo runaway gas accretion. Nevertheless, a small number of planets appear to have densities consistent with rocky Earth-like compositions above this threshold, indicating that unusual formation and evolutionary scenarios are capable of producing extremely massive rocky planets called \"Mega-Earths.\" However, all of these planets orbit active stars with log$R'_{HK}$ $>$-4.75. We find a <1$\\%$ probability that all literature ultra-massive rocky planets would coincidentally orbit such active stars, and find no astrophysical reason to expect Mega-Earths to preferentially form around active stars. We therefore conclude that Mega-Earths are artifacts of stellar activity, and we question the reliability of Gaussian Processes to enable mass measurements for rocky planets around active stars.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.12600",
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Casey L. Brinkman"
    },
    {
      "name": "Nicolas Cowan"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ase1yah1c9vp3.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.12600",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "ase1yah1c9vp3",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.12600",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.EP"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.IM"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.SR"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3103|Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221524777",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.12600",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-08",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ase1yah1c9vp3.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:28:36Z",
      "native_id": "2610.12600",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.12600"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.IM",
      "subfield": "instrumentation-methods"
    },
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.EP",
      "subfield": "planetary"
    },
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.SR",
      "subfield": "stellar"
    }
  ],
  "title": "\"Mega-Earths\" are likely an artifact of stellar activity",
  "title_text": "\"Mega-Earths\" are likely an artifact of stellar activity",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:28:36Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ase1yah1c9vp3",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}