Related papers: Superionic silica-water and silica-hydrogen compou…
Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe, and together with silica, they are major components of giant planets. Exploring the reactivity and state of helium and silica under high pressure is of fundamental importance for…
Close-in transiting sub-Neptunes are abundant in our galaxy \cite{fulton2017california}. Planetary interior models based on their observed radius-mass relationship suggest that sub-Neptunes contain a discernible amount of either hydrogen…
C-H-N-O system is central for organic chemistry and biochemistry, and plays a major role in planetary science (dominating the composition of "ice giants" Uranus and Neptune). The inexhaustible chemical diversity of this system at normal…
Hydrogen, helium, silicates, and iron are key building blocks of rocky and gas-rich planets, yet their chemical interactions remain poorly constrained. Using first-principles molecular dynamics and thermodynamic integration, we quantify…
Superionic states are phases of matters that can simultaneously exhibit some of the properties of a fluid and of a solid. Superionic states of ice, H$_{3}$O, He-H$_{2}$O or He-NH$_{3}$ compounds have been reported in previous works.…
Sub-Neptune exoplanets are commonly hypothesized to consist of a silicate-rich magma ocean topped by a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. Previous work studying the outgassing of silicate material has demonstrated that such atmosphere-interior…
Water and hydrogen at high pressure make up a substantial fraction of the interiors of giant planets. Using ab initio random structure search methods we investigate the ground-state crystal structures of water, hydrogen, and hydrogen-oxygen…
Many planets in the solar system and across the galaxy have hydrogen-rich atmospheres overlying more heavy element-rich interiors with which they interact for billions of years. Atmosphere-interior interactions are thus crucial to…
The physical state and properties of silicates at conditions encountered in the cores of gas giants, ice giants and of Earth like exoplanets now discovered with masses up to several times the mass of the Earth remains mostly unknown. Here,…
The make-up of the outer planets, and many of their moons, are dominated by matter from the H-C-N-O chemical space, commonly assumed to originate from mixtures of hydrogen and the planetary ices H$_2$O, CH$_4$, and NH$_3$. In their…
Changes in atomic coordination numbers at high pressures are fundamental to condensed-matter physics because they initiate the emergence of unexpected structures and phenomena. Silicon is capable of forming eight-, nine-, and…
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…
For most planets in the range of radii from 1 to 4 R$_{\oplus}$, water is a major component of the interior composition. At high pressure H${}_{2}$O can be solid, but for larger planets, like Neptune, the temperature can be too high for…
Aerosols are common in the atmospheres of exoplanets across a wide swath of temperatures, masses, and ages. These aerosols strongly impact observations of transmitted, reflected, and emitted light from exoplanets, obfuscating our…
We investigate the consequences of non-ideal chemical interaction between silicate and overlying hydrogen-rich envelopes for rocky planets using basic tenets of phase equilibria. Based on our current understanding of the temperature and…
Many sub-Neptune exoplanets have been believed to be composed of a thick hydrogen-dominated atmosphere and a high-temperature heavier-element-dominant core. From an assumption that there is no chemical reaction between hydrogen and…
Rocky planet atmospheres form and evolve through interactions between the planet's surface and interior. If a growing rocky planet acquires enough mass prior to the dissipation of the nebular gas disk, it can gravitationally capture a…
Superionic hydrogen was previously thought to be an exotic state predicted and confirmed only in pure H2O ice. In Earth's deep interior, H2O exists in the form of O-H groups in ultra-dense hydrous minerals, which have been proved to be…
Gas hydrates are considered fundamental building blocks of giant icy planets like Neptune and similar exoplanets. The existence of these materials in the interiors of giant icy planets, which are subject to high pressures and temperatures,…
Substantial silicate vapor is expected to be in chemical equilibrium at temperature conditions typical of the silicate-atmosphere interface of sub-Neptune planets, which can exceed 5000 K. Previous models of the atmospheric structure and…