Related papers: Uranus' Complex Internal Structure
The shapes of fluid planets bear the signatures of rotational flattening and atmospheric flows. Precise knowledge of their shapes and wind profiles may therefore reveal their interior rotation rates. We re-examine this idea for the ice…
The internal heat flows of both Uranus and Neptune remain major outstanding problems in planetary science. Uranus' surprisingly cold effective temperature is inconsistent with adiabatic thermal evolution models, while Neptune's substantial…
The observations made during the Voyager 2 flyby have shown that the stratosphere of Uranus and Neptune are warmer than expected by previous models. In addition, no seasonal variability of the thermal structure has been observed on Uranus…
Ab initio free energy calculations are employed to derive the entropy of liquid and superionic water over a wide range of conditions in the interiors of Uranus and Neptune. The resulting adiabats are much shallower in pressure-temperature…
Interior models of Uranus and Neptune often assume discrete layers, but sharp interfaces are expected only if major constituents are immiscible. Diffuse interfaces could arise if accretion favored a central concentration of the least…
The low luminosity of Uranus is still a puzzling phenomenon and has key implications for the thermal and compositional gradients within the planet. Recent studies have shown that planetary volatiles become ionically conducting under…
Demixing properties of planetary major constituents influence the interior structure and evolution of planets. Comparing experimental and computational data on the miscibility of hydrogen and water to adiabatic profiles suggests phase…
We perform a suite of smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations to investigate in detail the results of a giant impact on the young Uranus. We study the internal structure, rotation rate, and atmospheric retention of the post-impact…
Determining the depth of atmospheric winds in the outer planets of the Solar System is a key topic in planetary science. We provide constraints on these depths in Uranus and Neptune via the total induced Ohmic dissipation, due to the…
A Uranus orbiter would be well positioned to detect the planet's free oscillation modes, whose frequencies can resolve questions about Uranus's weakly constrained interior. We calculate the spectra that may manifest in resonances with ring…
Modeling the interior of a planet is difficult because the small number of measured parameters is insufficient to constrain the many variables involved in describing the interior structure and composition. One solution is to invoke…
Exoplanet characterization is one of the main foci of current exoplanetary science. For super-Earths and sub-Neptunes, we mostly rely on mass and radius measurements, which allow to derive the body's mean density and give a rough estimate…
Sub-Neptunes represent the largest exoplanet demographic, yet their bulk compositions remain poorly understood. Recent studies suggested that only very cold planets, such as Uranus and Neptune, could experience stratification of volatiles…
Both Uranus and Neptune are thought to have strong zonal winds with velocities of several hundred meters per second. These wind velocities, however, assume solid-body rotation periods based on Voyager 2 measurements of periodic variations…
The internal structure of gas giant planets may be more complex than the commonly assumed core-envelope structure with an adiabatic temperature profile. Different primordial internal structures as well as various physical processes can lead…
Uranus and Neptune exhibit fast surface zonal winds that can reach up to few hundred meters per second. Previous studies on zonal gravitational harmonics and Ohmic dissipation constraints suggest that the wind speeds diminish rapidly in…
The narrow main rings of Uranus are composed of almost exclusively centimeter- to meter-sized particles, with a very small or nonexistent dust component; however, the filling factor, composition, thickness, mass, and detailed particle size…
Here it is shown how to find the interior structure of a variety of rock-and-iron planetary bodies by using the rock density and some aspects of the core density as known for the Earth and using a convection principle for the iron-rich…
The accurate determination of Saturn's gravitational coefficients by Cassini could provide tighter constrains on Saturn's internal structure. Also, occultation measurements provide important information on the planetary shape which is often…
The interiors of giant planets are commonly assumed to be convective and adiabatic, making the adiabatic temperature gradient a key ingredient in interior and evolution models. Multiple numerically distinct methods exist for computing this…