Seismic Inferences of Gas Giant Planets: Excitation & Interiors

Seismology has been the premier tool of study for understanding the interior structure of the Earth. the Sun, and even other stars. In this thesis we develop the framework for the first ever seismic inversion of a rapidly rotating gas giant planet. We extensively test this framework to ensure that the inversions are robust and operate within a linear regime. This framework is then applied to Saturn to solve for its interior density and sound speed profiles to better constrain its interior structure. This is done by incorporating observations of its mode frequencies derived from Linblad and Vertical Resonances in Saturn's C-ring. We find that although the accuracy of the inversions is mitigated by the limited number of observed modes, we find that Saturn's core density must be at least 8.97 +/- 0.01 g cm-1 below r/Rs = 0.34 and its sound speed must be greater than 54.09 +/- 0.01 km s-1 below r/Rs = 0.23. These new constraints can aid the development of accurate equations of state and thus help determine the composition in Saturn's core. In addition. we investigate mode excitation and whether the k -Mechanism can excite modes on Jupiter. While we find that the k-Mechanism does not play a. role in Jovian mode excitation, we discover a different opacity driven mechanism. The Radiative Suppression Mechanism, that can excite modes in hot giant planets orbiting extremely close to their host stars if they receive a stellar flux greater than 109 erg cm-2 s-1. Finally, we investigate whether moist convection is responsible for exciting Jovian modes. Mode driving can occur if, on average, one cloud column with a 1-km radius exists per 6423 km2 or if 43 storms with 200 columns, each with a radius of 25 km, erupt per day. While this seems unlikely given current observations, moist convection does have enough thermal energy to drive Jovian oscillations, should it be available to them.