Understanding planetary interiors is directly linked to our ability of simulating exotic quantum mechanical systems such as hydrogen (H) and hydrogen-helium (H-He) mixtures at high pressures and temperatures. Equation of state (EOS) tables based on density functional theory are commonly used by planetary scientists, although this method allows only for a qualitative description of the phase diagram. Here we report quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) molecular dynamics simulations of pure H and H-He mixture. We calculate the first QMC EOS at 6000 K for a H-He mixture of a protosolar composition, and show the crucial influence of He on the H metallization pressure. Our results can be used to calibrate other EOS calculations and are very timely given the accurate determination of Jupiter’s gravitational field from the NASA Juno mission and the effort to determine its structure.

中文翻译：

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量子条件下氢和氢氦混合物在行星条件下的相图

了解行星内部与我们在高温高压下模拟异质子量子力学系统（例如氢（H）和氢-氦（H-He）混合物）的能力直接相关。尽管这种方法仅允许定性描述相图，但是基于密度泛函理论的状态方程（EOS）表是行星科学家普遍使用的方法。在这里，我们报告纯H和H-He混合物的量子蒙特卡罗（QMC）分子动力学模拟。我们计算了原始太阳能电池组成的H-He混合物在6000 K时的第一个QMC EOS，并显示了He对H金属化压力的关键影响。