Formation of diamonds in laser-compressed hydrocarbons at planetary interior conditions

被引：179

作者：

Kraus, D. ^{[1
,2
,3
]}

Vorberger, J. ^{[1
]}

Pak, A. ^{[4
]}

Hartley, N. J. ^{[1
,5
]}

Fletcher, L. B. ^{[6
]}

Frydrych, S. ^{[4
,7
]}

Galtier, E. ^{[6
]}

Gamboa, E. J. ^{[6
]}

Gericke, D. O. ^{[8
]}

Glenzer, S. H. ^{[6
]}

Granados, E. ^{[6
]}

MacDonald, M. J. ^{[6
,9
]}

MacKinnon, A. J. ^{[6
]}

McBride, E. E. ^{[6
,10
]}

Nam, I. ^{[6
]}

Neumayer, P. ^{[11
]}

Roth, M. ^{[7
]}

Saunders, A. M. ^{[2
]}

Schuster, A. K. ^{[1
]}

Sun, P. ^{[6
,12
]}

van Driel, T. ^{[6
]}

Doppner, T. ^{[4
]}

Falcone, R. W. ^{[2
,13
]}

机构：

[1] Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf, Bautzner Landstr 400, D-01328 Dresden, Germany

[2] Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Phys, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA

[3] Tech Univ Dresden, Inst Solid State & Mat Phys, D-01069 Dresden, Germany

[4] Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, Livermore, CA 94550 USA

[5] Osaka Univ, Open & Transdisciplinary Res Inst, Suita, Osaka 5650871, Japan

[6] SLAC Natl Accelerator Lab, Stanford, CA 94309 USA

[7] Tech Univ Darmstadt, Inst Kernphys, Schlossgartenstr 9, D-64289 Darmstadt, Germany

[8] Univ Warwick, Dept Phys, Ctr Fus Space & Astrophys, Coventry CV4 7AL, W Midlands, England

[9] Univ Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA

[10] European XFEL GmbH, Holzkoppel 4, D-22869 Schenefeld, Germany

[11] GSI Helmholtzzentrum Schwerionenforsch GmbH, Planckstrasse 1, D-64291 Darmstadt, Germany

[12] Stanford Univ, Dept Phys, Stanford, CA 94305 USA

[13] Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA

来源：

NATURE ASTRONOMY | 2017年 / 1卷 / 09期

关键词：

SHOCK COMPRESSION; GIANT PLANETS; ICE LAYER; METHANE; CARBON; URANUS; DISSOCIATION; HYDROGEN; NEPTUNE;

D O I：

10.1038/s41550-017-0219-9

中图分类号：

P1 [天文学];

学科分类号：

0704 ;

摘要：

The effects of hydrocarbon reactions and diamond precipitation on the internal structure and evolution of icy giant planets such as Neptune and Uranus have been discussed for more than three decades(1). Inside these celestial bodies, simple hydrocarbons such as methane, which are highly abundant in the atmospheres(2), are believed to undergo structural transitions(3,4) that release hydrogen from deeper layers and may lead to compact stratified cores(5-7). Indeed, from the surface towards the core, the isentropes of Uranus and Neptune intersect a temperature-pressure regime in which methane first transforms into a mixture of hydrocarbon polymers8, whereas, in deeper layers, a phase separation into diamond and hydrogen may be possible. Here we show experimental evidence for this phase separation process obtained by in situ X-ray diffraction from polystyrene (C8H8)n samples dynamically compressed to conditions around 150 GPa and 5,000 K; these conditions resemble the environment around 10,000 km below the surfaces of Neptune and Uranus(9). Our findings demonstrate the necessity of high pressures for initiating carbon-hydrogen separation(3) and imply that diamond precipitation may require pressures about ten times as high as previously indicated by static compression experiments(4,8,10). Our results will inform mass-radius relationships of carbon-bearing exoplanets(11), provide constraints for their internal layer structure and improve evolutionary models of Uranus and Neptune, in which carbon-hydrogen separation could influence the convective heat transport(7).

引用

页码：606 / 611

页数：6

共 34 条

[1] Decomposition of hydrocarbons to hydrogen and carbon [J].