Related papers: Differential rotation in giant planets maintained …
The recent gravity field measurements of Jupiter (Juno) and Saturn (Cassini) confirm the existence of deep zonal flows reaching to a depth of 5\% and 15\% of the respective radius. Relating the zonal wind induced density perturbations to…
Previous studies have shown that planets that rotate retrograde (backwards with respect to their orbital motion) generally experience less severe obliquity variations than those that rotate prograde (the same direction as their orbital…
The higher order gravitational moments of a differentially rotating planet are greatly affected or even dominated by the near surface differential flow. Unlike the contribution from rigid body rotation, this part of the gravity field can be…
Seismology applied to giant planets could drastically change our understanding of their deep interiors, as it has happened with the Earth, the Sun, and many main-sequence and evolved stars. The study of giant planets' composition is…
Within the general framework of core-nucleated accretion theory of giant planet formation, the conglomeration of massive gaseous envelopes is facilitated by a transient period of rapid accumulation of nebular material. While the concurrent…
Atmospheric tides can have a strong impact on the rotational dynamics of planets. They are of most importance for terrestrial planets located in the habitable zone of their host star, where their competition with solid tides is likely to…
Relatively long-period nonsynchronized planets---such as warm Jupiters---potentially retain the primordial rotation, eccentricity, and obliquity that might encapsulate information on planetary climate and formation processes. To date, there…
The upper atmospheres of Mars and Titan, as well as those on many other planetary bodies, exhibit significant density variations vs. altitude that are interpreted as gravity waves. Such data is then used to extract vertical temperature…
Many features of the outer solar system are replicated in numerical simulations if the giant planets undergo an orbital instability that ejects one or more ice giants. During this instability, Jupiter and Saturn's orbits diverge, crossing…
The atmospheric circulation in the upper atmosphere of hot Jupiter planets is strongly influenced by the incoming stellar radiation. In this work we explore the results from a 3D atmospheric model and revisit the main processes driving the…
Convection and magnetic field generation in the Earth and planetary interiors are driven by both thermal and compositional gradients. In this work numerical simulations of finite-amplitude double-diffusive convection and dynamo action in…
The global scales of solar convection are studied through three-dimensional simulations of compressible convection carried out in spherical shells of rotating fluid which extend from the base of the convection zone to within 15 Mm of the…
Instabilities and strong dynamical interactions between multiple giant planets have been proposed as a possible explanation for the surprising orbital properties of extrasolar planetary systems. In particular, dynamical instabilities seem…
Recent observations of several protoplanetary discs have found evidence of departures from flat, circular motion in the inner regions of the disc. One possible explanation for these observations is a disc warp, which could be induced by a…
In a recent paper we proposed that the giant planets' primordial orbits may have been eccentric (~0.05), and used a suite of dynamical simulations to show outcomes of the giant planet instability that are consistent with their present-day…
Three-dimensional studies of convection in deep spherical shells have been used to test the hypothesis that the strong jet streams on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune result from convection throughout the molecular envelopes. Due to…
Tidal dissipation may be important for the internal evolution as well as the orbits of short-period massive planets--hot Jupiters. We revisit a mechanism proposed by Ogilvie and Lin for tidal forcing of inertial waves, which are…
The physical shape of a giant planet can reveal important information about its centrifugal potential, and therefore, its rotation. In this paper I investigate the response of Jupiter's shape to differential rotation on cylinders of various…
We present a series of calculations aimed at examining how an inner system of planetesimals/protoplanets, undergoing terrestrial planet formation, evolves under the influence of a giant planet undergoing inward type II migration through the…
Tidally locked exoplanets likely host global atmospheric circulations with a superrotating equatorial jet, planetary-scale stationary waves and thermally-driven overturning circulation. In this work, we show that each of these features can…