Structure and evolution of giant planets

The understanding of the structure and evolution of our solar system giant planets has significantly advanced within the past years. Important progress is due not only to direct observations and in situ measurements, but also to high pressure laboratory experiments which test the properties of hydrogen under the same conditions of pressure and density as in the interior of giant planets. The modelling of giant planets has also improved due to theoretical and observational activities devoted to another type of objects, the brown dwarfs, closely related to giant planets in terms of atmospheric and thermodynamic properties. Since the best constraints are now available for Jupiter and Saturn, this review summarizes the latest improvements regarding the description of the interior and atmosphere of these two giant planets. We will also extend the discussion to extrasolar giant planets.