Uranus' Complex Internal Structure
arxiv(2024)
摘要
Uranus' bulk composition remains unknown. Although there are clear
indications that Uranus' interior is not fully convective, and therefore has a
non-adiabatic temperature profile, many interior models continue to assume an
adiabatic interior. In this paper we present a new method to interpret
empirical structure models in terms of composition and for identifying
non-convective regions. We also explore how the uncertainty in Uranus' rotation
period and winds affect the inferred composition and temperature profile. We
use Uranus' density profiles from previous work where the density is
represented by up to three polytropes. Using our new method, we find that these
empirical models imply that Uranus' interior includes non-adiabatic regions.
This leads to significantly hotter internal temperatures that can reach a few
10^3 K and higher bulk heavy-element abundances (up to 1 M_⊕) compared
to standard adiabatic models. We find that the assumed rotation period strongly
affects the inferred composition while the winds have a negligible effect.
Although solutions with only H-He and rock are possible, we find that the
maximum water-to-rock ratio in Uranus for our models ranges between 2.6 and 21.
This is significantly lower compared to standard adiabatic models. We conclude
that it is important to include non-adiabatic regions in Uranus structure
models as they significantly affect the inferred temperature profile, and
therefore the inferred bulk heavy-element abundance. In addition, we suggest
that it is of great value to measure Uranus' gravitational field and determine
its rotation period in order to decrease the uncertainty in Uranus' bulk
composition.
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