Dynamic transition of supercritical hydrogen in gas giants: defining the boundary between interior and atmosphere

• Main Authors: Trachenko, K, Brazhkin, V. V, Bolmatov, D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 13-03-2014
• Subjects: Physics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics; Physics - Materials Science; Physics - Soft Condensed Matter; Physics - Statistical Mechanics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1309.6500

Physical Review E 89, 032126 (2014) Understanding physics of gas giants requires the knowledge about the behavior
of hydrogen at extreme pressures and temperatures. Molecular hydrogen in these
planets is supercritical, and has been considered as a physically homogeneous
state where no differences can be made between a liquid and a gas and where all
properties undergo no marked or distinct changes with pressure and temperature,
the picture believed to hold below the dissociation and metallization
transition. Here, we show that in Jupiter and Saturn, supercritical molecular
hydrogen undergoes a dynamic transition around 10 GPa and 3000 K from the
"rigid" liquid state to the "non-rigid" gas-like fluid state at the Frenkel
line recently proposed, with accompanying qualitative changes of all major
physical properties. The consequences of this finding are discussed, including
a physically justified way to demarcate the interior and the atmosphere in gas
giants.