Related papers: Stable stratification promotes multiple zonal jets…
With continued improvement in telescope sensitivity and observational techniques, the search for rocky planets in stellar habitable zones is entering an exciting era. With so many exoplanetary systems available for follow-up observations to…
We perform idealised numerical simulations of magnetic buoyancy instabilities in a model of the solar tachocline. We introduce a simplified model of magnetic flux pumping in an upper layer (the convection zone), and study the effects of its…
Based on models derived from Earth's magnetotail, other planets with dipole magnetic fields, including Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn, were expected to possess similar magnetotail configurations. In this traditional picture, the majority of…
The zonal winds on the surfaces of giant planets vary with latitude. Jupiter and Saturn, for example, have several bands of alternating eastward (prograde) and westward (retrograde) jets relative to the angular velocity of their global…
A mechanism by which the surface zonal flows of giant planets can be gradually attenuated with depth is explored. The zonal flow is driven by an imposed forcing in a thin layer near the surface. A meridional circulation is set up, analogous…
In anticipation of improved observational data for Jupiter's gravitational field from the Juno spacecraft, we predict the static tidal response for a variety of Jupiter interior models based on ab initio computer simulations of…
Deciphering the flow below the cloud-level of Jupiter remains a critical milestone in understanding Jupiter's internal structure and dynamics. The expected high-precision Juno measurements of both the gravity field and the magnetic field…
Precision radial velocity (RV) measurements of the Sun-like dwarf 14 Herculis published by Naef et. al (2004), Butler et. al (2006) and Wittenmyer et al (2007) reveal a Jovian planet in a 1760 day orbit and a trend indicating the second…
Magnetic fields have been constrained at the surface of several massive and intermediate-mass stars, but their origin and properties in deep stellar radiative interiors are still debated, despite recent detections in the core of some red…
Large regions of giant planets are thought to possess unstable thermal gradients stabilised by gradients in heavy-element composition. The fluid can then develop semi-convection, a double-diffusive instability driven by the unequal…
We study the process of magnetic reversals in the presence of a stably-stratified layer below the core-mantle boundary using direct numerical simulations of the incompressible magnetohydrodynamics equations under the Boussinesq…
Giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn feature strong zonal wind patterns on their surfaces. Although several different mechanisms that may drive these jets have been proposed over the last decades, the origin of the zonal winds is still…
The interaction between Jupiter's magnetosphere and the solar wind is not well-constrained: while internal energetic plasma processes are thought to dominate plasma circulation, the solar wind nonetheless exerts significant control over the…
Results from the laboratory experiments on the evolution of baroclinically unstable flows generated in a rotating tank with topographic beta-effect are presented. We study zonal jets of alternating direction which occur in these flows. The…
The poorly-ionized interior of the protoplanetary disk is the location where dust coagulation processes may be most efficient. However even here, planetesimal formation may be limited by the loss of solid material through radial drift, and…
While Jupiter's massive gas envelope consists mainly of hydrogen and helium, the key to understanding Jupiter's formation and evolution lies in the distribution of the remaining (heavy) elements. Before the Juno mission, the lack of…
In the last decades there have been an increasing interest in improving the accuracy of spacecraft navigation and trajectory data. In the course of this plan some anomalies have been found that cannot, in principle, be explained in the…
Layered semi-convection could operate in giant planets, potentially explaining the constraints on the heavy elements distribution in Jupiter deduced recently from Juno observations, and contributing to Saturn's luminosity excess or the…
The Juno spacecraft has measured Jupiter's low-order, even gravitational moments, $J_2$--$J_8$, to an unprecedented precision, providing important constraints on the density profile and core mass of the planet. Here we report on a selection…
We study how stably stratified or semi-convective layers alter tidal dissipation rates associated with the generation of inertial, gravito-inertial, interfacial and surface gravity waves in rotating giant planets. We explore scenarios in…