  Around low- and intermediate-mass (1.5-3 M_sun) red giants, no planets have
been found inside 0.6 AU. Such a paucity is not seen in the case of 1 M_sun
main sequence stars. In this study, we examine the possibility that
short-period planets were engulfed by their host star evolving off the main
sequence. To do so, we have simulated the orbital evolution of planets,
including the effects of stellar tide and mass loss, to determine the critical
semimajor axis, a_crit, beyond which planets survive the RGB expansion of their
host star. We have found that a_crit changes drastically around 2 M_sun: In the
lower-mass range, a_crit is more than 1 AU, while a_crit is as small as about
0.2 AU in the higher-mass range. Comparison with measured semimajor axes of
known planets suggests that there is a lack of planets that only planet
engulfment never accounts for in the higher-mass range. Whether the lack is
real affects our understanding of planet formation. Therefore, increasing the
number of planet samples around evolved intermediate-mass stars is quite
meaningful to confirm robustness of the lack of planets.
