  We have investigated the evaporation of close-in exoplanets irradiated by
ionizing photons. We find that the properties of the flow are controlled by the
ratio of the recombination time to the flow time-scale. When the recombination
time-scale is short compared to the flow time-scale the the flow is in
approximate local ionization equilibrium with a thin ionization front, where
the photon mean free path is short compared to flow scale. In this
"recombination limited" flow the mass-loss scales roughly with the square root
of the incident flux. When the recombination time is long compared to the flow
time-scale the ionization front becomes thick and encompasses the entire flow,
with the mass-loss rate scaling linearly with flux. If the planet's potential
is deep the flow is approximately "energy-limited"; however, if the planet's
potential is shallow we identify a new limiting mass-loss regime, which we term
"photon-limited". In this scenario the mass-loss rate is purely limited by the
incoming flux of ionizing photons. We have developed a new numerical approach
that takes into account the frequency dependence of the incoming ionizing
spectrum and performed a large suite of 1D simulations to characterise UV
driven mass-loss around low mass planets. We find the flow is
"recombination-limited" at high fluxes but becomes "energy-limited" at low
fluxes; however, the transition is broad occurring over several order of
magnitude in flux. Finally, we point out the transitions between the different
flow types does not occur at a single flux value, but depends on the planet's
properties, with higher mass planets becoming "energy-limited" at lower fluxes.
