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

Kraus, D.; Vorberger, J.; Pak, A.; Hartley, N. J.; Fletcher, L. B.; Frydrych, S.; Galtier, E.; Gamboa, E. J.; Gericke, D. O.; Glenzer, S. H.; Granados, E.; MacDonald, M. J.; MacKinnon, A. J.; McBride, E. E.; Nam, I.; Neumayer, P.; Roth, M.; Saunders, A. M.; Schuster, A. K.; Sun, P.; van Driel, T.; Döppner, T.; Falcone, R. W.

doi:10.1038/s41550-017-0219-9

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

Journal Article · Mon Aug 21 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Nature Astronomy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0219-9· OSTI ID:1393331

^[1]; Vorberger, J. ^[2]; Pak, A. ^[3]; ^[4]; Fletcher, L. B. ^[5]; Frydrych, S. ^[6]; Galtier, E. ^[5]; Gamboa, E. J. ^[5]; Gericke, D. O. ^[7]; Glenzer, S. H. ^[5]; Granados, E. ^[5]; MacDonald, M. J. ^[8]; MacKinnon, A. J. ^[5]; McBride, E. E. ^[9]; Nam, I. ^[5]; Neumayer, P. ^[10]; Roth, M. ^[11]; Saunders, A. M. ^[12]; Schuster, A. K. ^[2]; Sun, P. ^[13] more »

Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Dresden (Germany); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Department of Physics; Technische Universitat Dresden (Germany). Institute of Solid State and Materials Physics
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Dresden (Germany)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Dresden (Germany); Osaka University (Japan). Open and Transdisciplinary Research Institute
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Technische Universitat Darmstadt (Germany). Institut fur Kernphysik
University of Warwick, Coventry (United Kingdom). Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, Department of Physics
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); European XFEL GmbH, Schenefeld (Germany)
GSI Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Darmstadt (Germany)
Technische Universitat Darmstadt (Germany). Institut fur Kernphysik
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Department of Physics
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Department of Physics
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Department of Physics; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

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. Inside these celestial bodies, simple hydrocarbons such as methane, which are highly abundant in the atmospheres, are believed to undergo structural transitions that release hydrogen from deeper layers and may lead to compact stratified cores. 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 polymers, whereas, in deeper layers, a phase separation into diamond and hydrogen may be possible. Here in this paper, 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. Our findings demonstrate the necessity of high pressures for initiating carbon–hydrogen separation and imply that diamond precipitation may require pressures about ten times as high as previously indicated by static compression experiments. In conclusion, our results will inform mass–radius relationships of carbon-bearing exoplanets, 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.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) (SC-24)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; AC02-76SF00515; AC52-07NA27344; FG52-10NA29649; NA0001859

OSTI ID:: 1393331

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1476528

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL--707514; PII: 219

Journal Information:: Nature Astronomy, Journal Name: Nature Astronomy Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 1; ISSN 2397-3366

Publisher:: SpringerCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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