More on CoRoT-7 b's mass loss

The Roles of Tidal Evolution and Evaporative Mass Loss in the Origin of CoRoT-7 b
http://arxiv.org/abs/1005.2186

Abstract wrote:

CoRoT-7 b is the first confirmed rocky exoplanet, but, with an orbital semi-major axis of 0.0172 AU, its origins may be unlike any rocky planet in our solar system. In this study, we consider the roles of tidal evolution and evaporative mass loss in CoRoT-7 b's history, which together have modified the planet's mass and orbit. If CoRoT-7 b has always been a rocky body, evaporation may have driven off almost half its original mass, but the mass loss may depend sensitively on the extent of tidal decay of its orbit. As tides caused CoRoT-7 b's orbit to decay, they brought the planet closer to its host star, thereby enhancing the mass loss rate. Such a large mass loss also suggests the possibility that CoRoT-7 b began as a gas giant planet and had its original atmosphere completely evaporated. In this case, we find that CoRoT-7 b's original mass probably didn't exceed 200 Earth masses (about 2/3 of a Jupiter mass). Tides raised on the host star by the planet may have significantly reduced the orbital semi-major axis, perhaps causing the planet to migrate through mean-motion resonances with the other planet in the system, CoRoT-7 c. The coupling between tidal evolution and mass loss may be important not only for CoRoT-7 b but also for other close-in exoplanets, and future studies of mass loss and orbital evolution may provide insight into the origin and fate of close-in planets, both rocky and gaseous.

It is strange. The COROT-7 system is just look alike the trios of superearthss and of ice giants (especially if the third planet is confirmed) and however they assume that it was in the past a giant of gas...

With the new period and mass for 55 Cancri Ae, I'm beginning to wonder if it is a Chthonian planet, perhaps like CoRoT-7 b. The set-up is similar, though the masses of the exterior few planets are higher.