Thermal evolution of Uranus and Neptune

I. Adiabatic models

¹ Institut für Physik, Universität Rostock, A.-Einstein-Str. 23, 18059 Rostock, Germany
e-mail: ludwig.scheibe@uni-rostock.de
² Institut für Planetenforschung, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Rutherfordstraße 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany

Received: 25 July 2019
Accepted: 22 October 2019

Abstract

The brightness of Neptune is often found to be in accordance with an adiabatic interior, while the low luminosity of Uranus challenges this assumption. Here we apply revised equation of state data of hydrogen, helium, and water and compute the thermal evolution of Uranus and Neptune assuming an adiabatic interior. For this purpose, we have developed a new planetary model and evolution code. We investigate the influence of albedo, solar energy influx, and equations of state of H and He, and water on the cooling time. Our cooling times of about τ_U = 5.1 × 10⁹ yr for Uranus and τ_N = 3.7 × 10⁹ yr for Neptune bracket the known age of the planets of 4.56 × 10⁹ yr implying that neither planet’s present-day luminosity can be explained by adiabatic cooling. We also find that uncertainties on input parameters such as the level of irradiation matter generally more for Uranus than for Neptune. Our results suggest that in contrast to common assumptions, neither planet is fully adiabatic in the deeper interior.