Ab Initio Simulations of Superionic Water Ice in Giant Planet Cores
Abstract
Since solar and extrasolar gas giant planets certainly contain large quantities of water ice in their cores, it is essential to understand the nature of this material under extreme conditions of megabar pressure and thousands of kelvin. Previous theoretical work has shown that, at high pressure, water ice can achieve a superionic state where the oxygen atoms remain in their lattice sites but the hydrogen atoms diffuse freely throughout the lattice. Here, we study the nature of superionic ice to determine the structure of the oxygen sublattice as a function of temperature and pressure throughout the superionic phase in relation to the structure of the zero-kelvin ice structure. We also examine the solid-to-superionic phase boundary between pressures of 5 and 40 Mbar. This work is also important for the erosion of giant planet cores that has recently been predicted based on ab initio simulations.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011AGUFM.P13A1660W
- Keywords:
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- 5422 PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLID SURFACE PLANETS / Ices;
- 5724 PLANETARY SCIENCES: FLUID PLANETS / Interiors;
- 6220 PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS / Jupiter