1,381 research outputs found
Planetary internal structures
This chapter reviews the most recent advancements on the topic of terrestrial
and giant planet interiors, including Solar System and extrasolar objects.
Starting from an observed mass-radius diagram for known planets in the
Universe, we will discuss the various types of planets appearing in this
diagram and describe internal structures for each type. The review will
summarize the status of theoretical and experimental works performed in the
field of equation of states (EOS) for materials relevant to planetary interiors
and will address the main theoretical and experimental uncertainties and
challenges. It will discuss the impact of new EOS on interior structures and
bulk composition determination. We will discuss important dynamical processes
which strongly impact the interior and evolutionary properties of planets (e.g
plate tectonics, semiconvection) and describe non standard models recently
suggested for our giant planets. We will address the case of short-period,
strongly irradiated exoplanets and critically analyse some of the physical
mechanisms which have been suggested to explain their anomalously large radius.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for publication as a chapter in
Protostars and Planets VI, University of Arizona Press (2014), eds. H.
Beuther, R. Klessen, C. Dullemond, Th. Henning.
Equilibrium composition between liquid and clathrate reservoirs on Titan
Hundreds of lakes and a few seas of liquid hydrocarbons have been observed by
the Cassini spacecraft to cover the polar regions of Titan. A significant
fraction of these lakes or seas could possibly be interconnected with
subsurface liquid reservoirs of alkanes. In this paper, we investigate the
interplay that would happen between a reservoir of liquid hydrocarbons located
in Titan's subsurface and a hypothetical clathrate reservoir that progressively
forms if the liquid mixture diffuses throughout a preexisting porous icy layer.
To do so, we use a statistical-thermodynamic model in order to compute the
composition of the clathrate reservoir that forms as a result of the
progressive entrapping of the liquid mixture. This study shows that clathrate
formation strongly fractionates the molecules between the liquid and the solid
phases. Depending on whether the structure I or structure II clathrate forms,
the present model predicts that the liquid reservoirs would be mainly composed
of either propane or ethane, respectively. The other molecules present in the
liquid are trapped in clathrates. Any river or lake emanating from subsurface
liquid reservoirs that significantly interacted with clathrate reservoirs
should present such composition. On the other hand, lakes and rivers sourced by
precipitation should contain higher fractions of methane and nitrogen, as well
as minor traces of argon and carbon monoxide.Comment: Accepted for publication in Icaru
Titan's past and future: 3D modeling of a pure nitrogen atmosphere and geological implications
Several clues indicate that Titan's atmosphere has been depleted in methane
during some period of its history, possibly as recently as 0.5-1 billion years
ago. It could also happen in the future. Under these conditions, the atmosphere
becomes only composed of nitrogen with a range of temperature and pressure
allowing liquid or solid nitrogen to condense. Here, we explore these exotic
climates throughout Titan's history with a 3D Global Climate Model (GCM)
including the nitrogen cycle and the radiative effect of nitrogen clouds. We
show that for the last billion years, only small polar nitrogen lakes should
have formed. Yet, before 1 Ga, a significant part of the atmosphere could have
condensed, forming deep nitrogen polar seas, which could have flowed and
flooded the equatorial regions. Alternatively, nitrogen could be frozen on the
surface like on Triton, but this would require an initial surface albedo higher
than 0.65 at 4 Ga. Such a state could be stable even today if nitrogen ice
albedo is higher than this value. According to our model, nitrogen flows and
rain may have been efficient to erode the surface. Thus, we can speculate that
a paleo-nitrogen cycle may explain the erosion and the age of Titan's surface,
and may have produced some of the present valley networks and shorelines.
Moreover, by diffusion of liquid nitrogen in the crust, a paleo-nitrogen cycle
could be responsible of the flattening of the polar regions and be at the
origin of the methane outgassing on Titan.Comment: Accepted for publication in Icarus on July 7, 201
Improving WCET Analysis Precision through Automata Product
Real-time scheduling of application requires sound estimation of the Worst-Case Execution Time (WCET) of each task. Part of the over-approximation introduced by the WCET analysis of a task comes from not taking into account the fact that the (implicit) worst-case execution path may be infeasible. This article does not address the question of finding infeasible paths but provides a new formalism of automata to describe sets of infeasible paths. This formalism combines the possibilities to express state-based path acceptance (like in regular automata), constraints on counters (in the Implicit Path Enumeration Technique fashion) and contexts of validity (like in State charts). We show the applicability of our proposal by performing infeasible paths aware WCET analyses within the OTAWA framework. We provide algorithms that transform the control flow graph and/or the constraints system supporting the WCET analysis in order to exclude the specified paths
Quantitative Static Analysis Over Semirings: Analysing Cache Behaviour for Java Card
AbstractWe present a semantics-based technique for modeling and analysing resource usage behaviour of programs written in a simple object oriented language like Java Card byte code. The approach is based on the quantitative abstract interpretation framework of Di Pierro and Wiklicky where programs are represented as linear operators. We consider in particular linear operators over semi-rings (such as max-plus) that have proven useful for analysing cost properties of discrete event systems. We illustrate our technique through a cache behaviour analysis for Java Card
Thermal evolution and lifetime of intrinsic magnetic fields of Super Earths in habitable zones
We have numerically studied the thermal evolution of various-mass terrestrial
planets in habitable zones, focusing on duration of dynamo activity to generate
their intrinsic magnetic fields, which may be one of key factors in
habitability on the planets. In particular, we are concerned with super-Earths,
observations of which are rapidly developing. We calculated evolution of
temperature distributions in planetary interior, using Vinet equations of
state, Arrhenius-type formula for mantle viscosity, and the astrophysical
mixing length theory for convective heat transfer modified for mantle
convection. After calibrating the model with terrestrial planets in the Solar
system, we apply it for 0.1-- rocky planets with surface
temperature of 300~\mbox{K} (in habitable zones) and the Earth-like
compositions. With the criterion for heat flux at the CMB (core-mantle
boundary), the lifetime of the magnetic fields is evaluated from the calculated
thermal evolution. We found that the lifetime slowly increases with the
planetary mass () independent of initial temperature gap at the
core-mantle boundary () but beyond a critical value
() it abruptly declines by the mantle viscosity
enhancement due to the pressure effect. We derived as a function of
and a rheological parameter (activation volume, ).
Thus, the magnetic field lifetime of super-Earths with
sensitively depends on , which reflects planetary
accretion, and , which has uncertainty at very high pressure. More
advanced high-pressure experiments and first-principle simulation as well as
planetary accretion simulation are needed to discuss habitability of
super-Earths.Comment: 19pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
A New Family of Planets ? "Ocean Planets"
A new family of planets is considered which is between rochy terrestrial
planets and gaseous giant ones: "Ocean-Planets". We present the possible
formation, composition and internal models of these putative planets, including
that of their ocean, as well as their possible Exobiology interest. These
planets should be detectable by planet detection missions such as Eddington and
Kepler, and possibly COROT (lauch scheduled in 2006). They would be ideal
targets for spectroscopic missions such as Darwin/TPF.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures submitted to Icarus notes (10 july 2003
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