Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T04:33:49.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Giant Planet, Brown Dwarf, and Low-Mass Star Interiors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

W.B. Hubbard
W.B. Hubbard*
Affiliation:
Department of Planetary Sciences, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Astrophysical objects of low mass, ranging from giant planets to extreme dwarf main-sequence stars, have a number of physical characteristics in common due to properties of their equations of state. Their luminosities are low (much less than the solar luminosity L⊙) and their evolutionary timescales are typically measured in Gyr. So far there are few observational examples of these objects, although they are undoubtedly numerous in the galaxy. The lower mass limit is set by the object’s ability to retain hydrogen during accumulation (about the mass of Saturn), while the upper mass limit is set by the lifting of electron degeneracy by high internal temperature. Objects confined within this broad range, which extends up to about 0.1 M⊙, are governed by the thermodynamics of liquid metallic hydrogen. In this paper, we discuss the implications of this feature of their interior structure for their radii, interior temperatures, thermonuclear energy generation rates, and luminosities. We conclude with a brief assessment of the confrontation between observations and theory in galactic clusters and in the solar system.

Type
Reviews
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 147: The Equation of State in Astrophysics , 1994 , pp. 443 - 462
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

References

Boss, A.P., in Astrophysics of Brown Dwarfs (Kafatos, M.C., Harrington, R.S., Maran, S.P., eds.), Cambridge Univ. Press, pp. 206–211, (1986)Google Scholar
Burrows, A., Hubbard, W.B., Lunine, J.I., Astrophys. J. 345, 939, (1989)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burrows, A., Hubbard, W.B., Saumon, D., Lunine, J.I., Astrophys. J. 406, 158, (1993)Google Scholar
Chabrier, G., Saumon, D., Hubbard, W.B., Lunine, J.I., Astrophys. J. 391, 817, (1992)Google Scholar
Comeron, F., Rieke, G.H., Burrows, A., Rieke, M.J., Astrophys. J. 416, 185, (1993)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conrath, B.J., Gautier, D., Hanel, R.A., Hornstein, J.S., Astrophys. J. 282, 807, (1984)Google Scholar
D’Antona, F., Mazzitelli, I., Astr. J. Suppl., in press, (1993)Google Scholar
Dyson, F., Ann. Phys. 63, 1, (1971)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hubbard, W.B., Burrows, A., Lunine, J.I., Astrophys. J. 358, 53, (1990)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hubbard, W.B., Nellis, W.J., Mitchell, A.C., Holmes, N.C., Limaye, S.S., McCandless, P.C., Science 253, 648, (1991)Google Scholar
Hubbard, W.B., Pearl, J.C., Podolak, M., Stevenson, D.J., in Neptune and Triton (Cruikshank, D., ed.) Univ. of Arizona Press, in press, (1994)Google Scholar
Hubbard, W.B., Stevenson, D.J., in Saturn (Gehreis, T., Matthews, M.S., eds.), Univ. of Arizona Press, pp. 47–87, (1984)Google Scholar
Magazzù, A., Martin, E.L., Rebolo, R., Astrophys. J. 404, 17, (1993)Google Scholar
Nellis, W.J., Hamilton, D.C., Holmes, N.C., Radousky, H.B., Ree, F.H., Mitchell, A.C., Nicol, M., Science 240, 779, (1988)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearl, J.C., Conrath, B.J., J. Geophys. Res. 96, 18921, (1991)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salpeter, E.E., Astrophys. J. 121, 161, (1955)Google Scholar
Saumon, D., Chabrier, G., Phys. Rev. Lett. 62, 2397, (1989)Google Scholar
Saumon, D., Chabrier, G., Phys. Rev. A 44, 5122, (1991)Google Scholar
Saumon, D., Chabrier, G., Phys. Rev. A 46, 2084, (1992)Google Scholar
Saumon, D., Hubbard, W.B., Chabrier, G., Van Horn, H.M., Astrophys. J. 391, 827, (1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevenson, D.J., Phys. Rev. 12B, 3999, (1975)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevenson, D.J., Salpeter, E.E., Astrophys. J. Suppl. 35, 221, (1977)Google Scholar
Zharkov, V.N., Gudkova, T.V., Ann Geophysicae 9, 357, (1991)Google Scholar