Planetary Interior in the Laboratory

摘要

In the three years of this project, we have provided a complete database of the electrical conductivity of planetary materials to 180 GPa. The electrical conductivities of these planetary materials now provide a basis for future modeling of planets taking into account full magnetohydrodynamics. By using a full magnetohydrodynamics simulation, the magnetic fields of the planets can then be taken into account. Moreover, the electrical conductivities of the planetary materials have given us insight into the structure and nature of these dense fluids. We showed that simple monoatomic fluids such as hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen at planetary interior conditions undergo a common metallization process which can be explained on a simple basis of their radial charge density distributions. This model also shows that the metallization process is actually rather common and likely to take place in a number of materials such as carbon monoxide which is also present within planetary objects. On the other hand, we have also showed that a simple two component fluid like water and methane take on much different behaviors than say nitrogen due to the chemical interactions within these systems. The dynamics of an even more complex system, ''synthetic Uranus'' are still being analyzed but suggest that on some levels the behavior is very simple, i.e. the electrical conductivity is essentially the same as water, but the local dynamics are very complex. This project has shed much light on the nature of electrical transport within planetary interiors but also has shown that understanding chemical processes in the complex fluids within planetary interiors to be very important. Understanding those local interactions and processes is required to gain further insight into planetary interiors.