Our research activity over the course of the project has led to the publication of 35 articles in top-level journals in physics, mechanics, and planetary sciences. Those papers have reported significant contributions in the 3 scientific tasks initially planned. Major achievements include:
• task 1 - core formation: the first quantification of the turbulent exchanges taking place between the iron drops and the magma ocean during planetary formation by accretion, combining dedicated numerical simulations and innovative laboratory experiments (e.g. Qaddah et al. PEPI 2020, Wacheul & Le Bars PRF 2017). Those experiments have been awarded the 2016 Video APS/DFD Gallery of Fluid Motion Award.
• task 2 - core convection: the first characterization of the wave field emitted in a stratified layer within a planetary core by the underlying convection, using tridimensional numerical simulations (Bouffard et al. GJInt 2021).
• task 3 - core rotation: the first numerical and experimental realization of an inertial wave turbulence driven by harmonic forcing (Le Reun et al. PRL 2017, JFM 2019), which fundamentally changes our view of core turbulence, hence of planetary dynamo.
Beyond fulfilling initially planned tasked, this project has also allowed to explore new horizons following scientific breakthroughs as well newly published data and observations:
• our research in task 1 has been extended towards the closely related question of the dynamics of iron snow within planetary cores, and its relation to planetary magnetic field. We have performed the first experimental study of a falling, dissolving particle in a stratified medium (Huguet et al. PRF 2020).
• beyond our study of mixed stratified / convective dynamics in planetary cores in task 2, we have tackled the same dynamics for planetary atmosphere. Our numerical / theoretical work has led to the first demonstration of the emergence of a long-term, large-scale, oscillating flow in a stratified layer adjacent to a turbulent one, generalizing the concept of QBO to planetary cores (Couston et al. PRL 2018, Léard et al. PRL 2020).
• our research in task 2 has also open new research on the dynamics of Jupiter, with innovative experimental models of its jets, vortices, and their interactions (e.g. Lemasquerier et al. Nature Physics 2020, JFM 2021). This work has also been awarded the 2019 APS/DFD Milton van Dyke Award for a poster.
All team members have significantly taken part to the dissemination of our results towards scientific communities ranging from fluid mechanics to planetology (participation to and organization of conferences, publications), as well as towards a larger public: beyond the setting of a website, our yearly participation to the "Fête de la Science", and several press releases and journal articles, a one-week summer school has been organized in Udine (Italy) and 4 outreach movies have been produced to explain our research activities.
