English

Helium-iron compounds at terapascal pressures

Materials Science 2018-07-05 v1 Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Abstract

We investigate the binary phase diagram of helium and iron using first-principles calculations. We find that helium, which is a noble gas and inert at ambient conditions, forms stable crystalline compounds with iron at terapascal pressures. A FeHe compound becomes stable above 4 TPa, and a FeHe2_2 compound above 12 TPa. Melting is investigated using molecular dynamics simulations, and a superionic phase with sublattice melting of the helium atoms is predicted. We discuss the implications of our predicted helium-iron phase diagram for interiors of giant (exo)planets and white dwarf stars.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1806.03017,
  title  = {Helium-iron compounds at terapascal pressures},
  author = {Bartomeu Monserrat and Miguel Martinez-Canales and Richard J. Needs and Chris J. Pickard},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1806.03017},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

5 pages, 3 figures, includes Supplemental Material

R2 v1 2026-06-23T02:23:18.779Z