Dataset of "The Survival Paradox of Close-In Planets Orbiting Red Clump Giants"

This expectation underpins current views of planetary populations around evolved stars. While a single such system had been reported previously, we show that this phenomenon is not an isolated anomaly.

The identification of multiple close-in planets orbiting red-clump giants—stars that have already experienced their maximum expansion—indicates the emergence of a previously unrecognized class of planetary systems. These systems imply the action of a common physical process operating beyond current theoretical frameworks and fundamentally reshape our understanding of stellar--planetary coevolution in the late stages of stellar evolution.</pre><p></p>