D‐D Fusion in the Interior of Jupiter?

Abstract

One of the still uncertain and debated questions about Jupiter is the origin of its excess heat. Understanding the source of such heat will certainly shed some light on the physics of the interior of the planet and on scenarios of its formation. Recent measurements of sound velocities in Jupiter show substantial disagreement with the existing models for the Jovian interior. Analysis of these measurements suggests that helium (He) sedimentation (through H-He phase separation) is plausible in the planet's interior, contrary to what is believed from numerical calculations of H-He mixture at conditions prevailing in Jupiter's deep interior. This signals the need for a revision of the existing models of Jupiter and allows for new models to be explored. While He sedimentation might help shift the calculated sound velocities toward the observed ones, we find that it cannot explain the excess heat. Here, we analyze the consequences of deuterium (D) sedimentation on Jupiter's excess heat and discuss its effects on the sound profiles. Such a sedimentation is assumed to have occurred in the early stages of planet formation (here the core-instability model) through planetesimal vaporization in the deeper parts of the envelope. Our interest in investigating D sedimentation resulted from the recent extrapolations of D-D, D-T, D-3He, and p-D fusion to electron volt temperatures, which indicate that D-D fusion largely dominates the other reactions under conditions thought to prevail in the interior of early Jupiter. We find that with a modest degree of interior stratification of D (5%-15% of the total D of the planet), D-D burning naturally explains the excess heat given off by the planet. For our model to operate, we find that D sedimentation must occur during the early stages of planet formation (core-instability scenario) when interior temperatures of 16-18 eV where available. Our model is applied to the family of the Jovian planets as a whole.