Melting curve of SiO2 at multimegabar pressures: implications for gas giants and super-Earths

Ultrahigh-pressure phase boundary between solid and liquid SiO₂ is still quite unclear. Here we present predictions of silica melting curve for the multimegabar pressure regime, as obtained from first principles molecular dynamics simulations. We calculate the melting temperatures from three high pressure phases of silica (pyrite-, cotunnite-, and Fe₂P-type SiO₂) at different pressures using the Z method. The computed melting curve is found to rise abruptly around 330 GPa, an increase not previously reported by any melting simulations. This is in close agreement with recent experiments reporting the α-PbO₂–pyrite transition around this pressure. The predicted phase diagram indicates that silica could be one of the dominant components of the rocky cores of gas giants, as it remains solid at the core of our Solar System’s gas giants. These results are also relevant to model the interior structure and evolution of massive super-Earths.

The nucleation of gas hydrates near silica surfaces

Understanding the nucleation and crystal growth of gas hydrates near mineral surfaces and in confinement are critical to the methane recovery from gas hydrate reservoirs. In this work, through molecular dynamics simulation studies, we present an exploration of the nucleation behavior of methane hydrates near model hydroxylated silica surfaces. Our simulation results indicate that the nucleation of methane hydrates can initiate from the silica surfaces despite of the structural mismatch of the two solid phases. A layer of intermediate half-cage structures was observed between the gas hydrate and silica surfaces, apparently helping to minimize the free energy penalty. These results have important implications to our understanding of the effects of solid surfaces on hydrate nucleation processes.

Atomic diffusion in solid molecular hydrogen

We performed ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of the C2c and Cmca-12 phases of hydrogen at pressures from 210 to 350 GPa. These phases were predicted to be stable at 0 K and pressures above 200 GPa. However, systematic studies of temperature impact on properties of these phases have not been performed so far. Filling this gap, we observed that on temperature increase diffusion sets in the Cmca-12 phase, being absent in C2c. We explored the mechanism of diffusion and computed melting curve of hydrogen at extreme pressures. The results suggest that the recent experiments claiming conductive hydrogen at the pressure around 260 GPa and ambient temperature might be explained by the diffusion. The diffusion might also be the reason for the difference in Raman spectra obtained in recent experiments.