http://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6403/677

Insulator-metal transition in dense fluid deuterium

Abstract

Dense fluid metallic hydrogen occupies the interiors of Jupiter, Saturn,
and many extrasolar planets, where pressures reach millions of atmospheres.
Planetary structure models must describe accurately the transition from the
outer molecular envelopes to the interior metallic regions. We report
optical measurements of dynamically compressed fluid deuterium to 600
gigapascals (GPa) that reveal an increasing refractive index, the onset of
absorption of visible light near 150 GPa, and a transition to metal-like
reflectivity (exceeding 30%) near 200 GPa, all at temperatures below 2000
kelvin. Our measurements and analysis address existing discrepancies
between static and dynamic experiments for the insulator-metal transition
in dense fluid hydrogen isotopes. They also provide new benchmarks for the
theoretical calculations used to construct planetary models.

The article is questioned here

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6433/eaaw0969

The transition pressure to melalize deutriem is lower that expected from
first principle calculations. That meltaliation transition pressure is
measured to occur at 2,000,000 Bar.

For comment on the critique see

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6433/eaaw1970

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