Related papers: A Massive Core in Jupiter Predicted From First-Pri…
The Juno mission has provided measurements of Jupiter s gravity field with an outstanding level of accuracy, leading to better constraints on the interior of the planet. Improving our knowledge of the internal structure of Jupiter is key to…
Observations of Jupiter's gravity field by Juno have revealed surprisingly small values for the high order gravitational moments, considering the abundances of heavy elements measured by Galileo 20 years ago. The derivation of recent…
Recent observations of Jupiter and Saturn provided by spacecraft missions, such as Juno and Cassini, compel us to revise and improve our models of giant planet interiors. Even though hydrogen and helium are by far the dominant species in…
New equations of state (EOS) for hydrogen, helium, and compounds containing heavier elements are used to construct models for the structures of the planets Jupiter and Saturn. Good agreement with the gravitational moments J2 and J4 is…
With the goal of matching spacecraft measurements from Juno and Galileo missions, we construct ensembles of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 layer models for Jupiter's interior. All except our two layer models can match the planet's gravity field as…
Recent structure models of Jupiter that match Juno gravity data suggest that the planet harbours an extended region in its deep interior that is enriched in heavy elements, a so-called dilute/fuzzy core. This finding raises the question of…
Updated formation and structure models of Jupiter predict a metal-poor envelope. This is at odds with the two to three times solar metallicity measured by the Galileo probe. Additionally, Juno data imply that water and ammonia are enriched.…
The properties of hydrogen-helium mixtures at high pressure are crucial to address important questions about the interior of Giant planets e.g. whether Jupiter has a rocky core and did it emerge via core accretion? Using path integral Monte…
Jupiter's atmosphere is enriched with heavy elements by a factor of about 3 compared to proto-solar. The origin of this enrichment and whether it represent the bulk composition of the planetary envelope remain unknown. Internal structure…
Revealing the internal composition and structure of giant planets is fundamental for understanding planetary formation. However, the bulk composition can only be inferred through interior models. As a result, advancements in modelling…
We present calculations of the early stages of the formation of Jupiter via core nucleated accretion and gas capture. The core begins as a seed body of about 350 kilometers in radius and orbits in a swarm of planetesimals whose initial…
The primordial structure of Jupiter remains uncertain, yet it holds vital clues on the planet's formation and early evolution. Recent work used dynamical constraints from Jupiter's inner moons to determine its primordial state, thereby…
Motivated by recent spectroscopic observations suggesting that atmospheres of some extrasolar giant-planets are carbon-rich, i.e. carbon/oxygen ratio (C/O) $\ge$ 1, we find that the whole set of compositional data for Jupiter is consistent…
Using density functional molecular dynamics simulations, we determine the equation of state for hydrogen-helium mixtures spanning density-temperature conditions typical of giant planet interiors, ~0.2-9 g/cc and 1000-80000 K for a typical…
Revealing the true nature of the gas giant planets in our Solar System is challenging. The masses of Jupiter and Saturn are about 318 and 95 Earth masses, respectively. While they mostly consist of hydrogen and helium, the total mass and…
Some Jupiter-mass exoplanets contain $\sim$$100\, M_\oplus$ of metals, well above the $\sim$$10\, M_\oplus$ typically needed in a solid core to trigger giant planet formation by runaway gas accretion. We demonstrate that such `heavy-metal…
Recent formation and structure models of Jupiter suggest that the planet can have composition gradients and not be fully convective (adiabatic). This possibility directly affects our understanding of Jupiter's bulk composition and origin.…
The Core Accretion model is widely accepted as the primary mechanism for forming planets up to a few Jupiter masses. However, the formation of super-massive planets remains a subject of debate, as their formation via the Core Accretion…
The core mass of Saturn is commonly assumed to be 10-25 ME as predicted by interior models with various equations of state (EOSs) and the Voyager gravity data, and hence larger than that of Jupiter (0-10 ME). We here re-analyze Saturn's…
The equation of state of hydrogen, helium, and water effects interior structure models of giant planets significantly. We present a new equation of state data table, LM-REOS, generated by large scale quantum molecular dynamics simulations…