In the hot-start core accretion formation model for gas giants, the interior of a planet is usually assumed to be fully convective. By calculating the detailed internal evolution of a planet assuming hot start outer boundary conditions, we show that such a planet will in fact form with a radially increasing internal entropy profile, so that its interior will be radiative instead of convective. For a hot outer boundary, there is a minimum value for the entropy of the internal adiabat $S_{min}$ below which the accreting envelope does not match smoothly onto the interior, but instead deposits high entropy material onto the growing interior. One implication of this would be to at least temporarily halt the mixing of heavy elements within the planet, which are deposited by planetesimals accreted during formation. The compositional gradient this would impose could subsequently disrupt convection during post-accretion cooling, which would alter the observed cooling curve of the planet. However even with a homogeneous composition, for which convection develops as the planet cools, the difference in cooling timescale will change the inferred mass of directly-imaged gas giants.
Beyond the mass-radius plane: Integrated radiative-convective and interior structure simulations of the exoplanet continuum
Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge(剑桥大学天文研究所);Atmospheric Oceanic and Planetary Physics, University of Oxford(牛津大学大气海洋与行星物理系);Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen(格罗宁根大学卡普坦天文研究所)
Alkali lines at extreme densities and their impact on giant planet interior structure
University of Leiden(莱顿大学);Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université(巴黎天文台,巴黎文理研究大学,索邦大学);CNRS(法国国家科学研究中心);Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris(巴黎天体物理学研究所);Université Paris VI(巴黎第六大学);SRON Netherlands Research Organisation(荷兰研究机构)