Probing Deep Convection and Magnetic Field Generation in Jupiter, Saturn and Giant Exoplanets

Ziel

We are entering a golden age of giant planet exploration, where spacecraft missions and exoplanet observations are revolutionizing our understanding of planetary interiors. One of the most surprising recent findings is that vast regions of Jupiter and Saturn’s interiors, once assumed to be fully convective, appear instead to be stably stratified. This fundamentally alters how heat escapes from the deep interior, how angular momentum is redistributed, and how magnetic fields are generated. At the same time, high-precision measurements from Juno and Cassini have revealed that the magnetic fields of Jupiter and Saturn are more complex than previously thought, offering powerful new constraints on the global-scale motions inside the planets.
Because Jupiter and Saturn rotate rapidly, their interiors cannot be understood in one dimension: equators and poles behave differently, and three-dimensional modeling is essential. My project will employ the state-of-the-art 3D dynamo code, MagIC, coupled to current structure and evolution models, to investigate how stable stratification affects convection, magnetic field generation, and heat transfer in the giant planets.
Building on this foundation, I will extend the investigation to hot Jupiters, which are now entering the observational frontier. These planets are expected to have outer stable regions, making them natural laboratories for exploring how stratification modifies dynamo action. Properly capturing these effects will be crucial for interpreting forthcoming observations—such as phase curves from JWST and the detection of magnetic signatures via SKA. By systematically varying planetary parameters and age, I will map out how dynamo properties shape observable features.
This project integrates planetary science, astrophysical fluid dynamics, and dynamo theory to provide the essential physics linking interiors, magnetic fields, and observations—both within our solar system and far beyond.