Abstract

The evolution of the protoplanet Jupiter is followed, using a hydrodynamic computer code with radiative energy transport. Jupiter is assumed to have formed as a subcondensation in the primitive solar nebula at a density just high enough for gravitational collapse to occur. The initial state has a density of 1.5 × 10 -11 g cm -3 and a temperature of 43 K; the calculations are carried to an equilibrium state where the central density reaches 0.5 g cm -3 and the central temperature reaches 2.5 × 10 4 K. During the early part of the evolution the object contracts in quasi-hydrostatic equilibrium; later on hydrodynamic collapse occurs, induced by the dissociation of hydrogen molecules. After dissociation is complete, the planet regains hydrostatic equilibrium with a radius of a few times the present value. Further evolution beyond this point is not treated here; however the results are consistent with the existence of a high-luminosity phase shortly after the planet settles into its final quasistatic contraction.