Thermo-compositional convection in the interior of giant planets

在这个项目中，Garaud博士和她的合作者将扩展他们的建模，包括对传输分层对流的分析，目的是解决长期存在的问题，例如理解为什么土星辐射的能量比模型预测的要多，以及为什么天王星和海王星的能量比预期的要少。 他们还将测试引入氦梯度是否可以改善土星和木星的热演化模型。该项目具有更广泛的影响，因为它将培训学生进行跨学科科学研究，并产生适用于天文学以外领域的成果，包括应用数学和全球海洋混合。

In this project, Dr. Garaud and her collaborators will expand their modeling to include analysis of transport layered convection, with the goal of solving long-standing problems, such as understanding why Saturn radiates more energy than predicted by models, and why Uranus and Neptune give off much less than expected. They will also test whether incorporating helium gradients can improve the thermal evolution models of Saturn and Jupiter. This project has broader impacts in that it will train students in interdisciplinary scientific research, and produce results that are applicable in fields outside of astronomy, including applied mathematics and global oceanic mixing.