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In order to explain the inflated radii of some transiting extrasolar giantplanets, we investigate a tidal heating scenario for the inflated planetsWASP-4b, WASP-6b, WASP-12b, WASP-15b, and TrES-4. To do so, we assume that theyretain a nonzero eccentricity, possibly by dint of continuing interaction witha third body. We calculate the amount of extra heating in the envelope that isthen required to fit the radius of each planet, and we explore how thisadditional power depends on the planetary atmospheric opacity and on the massof a heavy-element central core. There is a degeneracy between the core mass$M_{\rm core}$ and the heating $\dot{E}_{\rm heating}$. Therefore, in the caseof tidal heating, there is for each planet a range of the couple $\{M_{\rmcore},e^2/Q'_p\}$ that can lead to the same radius, where $Q'_p$ is the tidaldissipation factor and $e$ is the eccentricity. With this in mind, we alsoinvestigate the case of the non-inflated planet HAT-P-12b, which can admitsolutions combining a heavy-element core and tidal heating. A substantialimprovement of the measured eccentricities of such planetary systems couldsimplify this degeneracy by linking the two unknown parameters $\{M_{\rmcore},Q'_p\}$. Further independent constraints on either of these parameterswould, through our calculations, constrain the other.

Tidal Heating Models for the Radii of the Inflated Transiting Giant Planets WASP-4b, WASP-6b, WASP-12b, and TrES-4