Possible nuclear fusion of deuteron in the cores of Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, and brown dwarfs

Many brown dwarfs have recently been discovered as sub-stellar objects in which deuteron thermonuclear fusion is taking place. Although Jupiter and Saturn emit nearly twice as much heat as they absorb from the Sun, their internal heat-generation mechanisms have been determined to differ from the nuc...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mikio Fukuhara
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIP Publishing LLC 2020-03-01
Series:AIP Advances
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.5108922
Description
Summary:Many brown dwarfs have recently been discovered as sub-stellar objects in which deuteron thermonuclear fusion is taking place. Although Jupiter and Saturn emit nearly twice as much heat as they absorb from the Sun, their internal heat-generation mechanisms have been determined to differ from the nuclear fusion that fuels brown dwarfs because they have a mass factor of 0.023–0.077 less than that of brown dwarfs. The possibility for deuteron nuclear fusion in the Earth’s core has not been well studied. Here, we compare the conditions for electron degeneracy pressure and temperature for the cores with an Fe–D compound of Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn to the core with deuterium gases of the coldest brown dwarf, WISE 1828+2650, in respect to three-body deuteron nuclear fusion, based on electron capture and internal conversion processes. Our results suggest that deuteron nuclear fusion is possible in the cores of Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn as well the coldest brown dwarf.
ISSN:2158-3226