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Published May 1979 | public
Journal Article

Solubility of helium in metallic hydrogen

Abstract

In the low-pressure limit, a helium atom embedded in the electron gas appropriate to metallic hydrogen is only weakly perturbed from its free space structure, and its interaction with the electron gas can be represented by an energy-dependent pseudopotential. A calculation is made for the Gibbs energy of mixing for H-He, using an Austin pseudopotential and a fluid state model based on hard-sphere structure factors. A large orthogonalisation hole is predicted, which may crudely represent the gradual transition from a helium atom to a screened alpha -particle as the electron density increases. The helium solubility is predominantly determined by the structure-independent interaction of the electron gas with the repulsive pseudopotential, and is probably least at the lowest pressures. In the hydrogen-helium planets (Jupiter, Saturn) the helium concentration may be at or close to saturation at the molecular-metallic hydrogen transition.

Additional Information

© 1979 The Institute of Physics. Received 31 July 1978, in final form 18 December 1978. I acknowledge the useful comments and criticisms of E L Pollock and B J Alder of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 24, 2023