Reactivity of Xenon with Ice at Planetary Conditions

Chrystèle Sanloup, Stanimir A. Bonev, Majdi Hochlaf, and Helen E. Maynard-Casely
Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 265501 – Published 24 June 2013

Abstract

We report results from high pressure and temperature experiments that provide evidence for the reactivity of xenon with water ice at pressures above 50 GPa and a temperature of 1500 K—conditions that are found in the interiors of Uranus and Neptune. The x-ray data are sufficient to determine a hexagonal lattice with four Xe atoms per unit cell and several possible distributions of O atoms. The measurements are supplemented with ab initio calculations, on the basis of which a crystallographic structure with a Xe4O12H12 primitive cell is proposed. The newly discovered compound is formed in the stability fields of superionic ice and η-O2, and has the same oxygen subnetwork as the latter. Furthermore, it has a weakly metallic character and likely undergoes sublattice melting of the H subsystem. Our findings indicate that Xe is expected to be depleted in the atmospheres of the giant planets as a result of sequestration at depth.

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  • Received 23 December 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.265501

© 2013 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Chrystèle Sanloup*

  • UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR CNRS 7193, ISTEP, 75005 Paris, France

Stanimir A. Bonev

  • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA and Department of Physics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3J5, Canada

Majdi Hochlaf

  • Université Paris-Est, Laboratoire Modélisation et Simulation MultiEchelle, MSME UMR 8208 CNRS, 77454 Marne-La-Vallée, France

Helen E. Maynard-Casely

  • School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

  • *Present address: School of Physics and Astronomy and Center for Science at Extreme Conditions, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, United Kingdom.
  • Present address: Bragg Institute, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Menai, New South Wales 2234, Australia.

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Issue

Vol. 110, Iss. 26 — 28 June 2013

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