The Role of Electron Carriers for Thermal Conductivity in Super-Earth Planets

Physics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

5430 Interiors (8147)

Scientific paper

The recent discovery of an extrsolar planet, with 7.5 times the mass of the Earth, has prompted investigation of a new range of parameter space, 3 times hotter and 10 times higher pressure P than that of the Earth's mantle. We estimate thermal conductivity k(T) of silicates and oxides under these extreme planetary conditions. The radiative portion of k(T) is large above the mid-lower post-perovskite mantle, where T reaches 5000-6000K. This stabilizes large plumes because the temperature derivative of k(T) is positive. At T higher than 5000 K, free electron carriers are thermally activated with the population n(T) increasing as exp(-E*/2kT), where E* is the band gap energy of around 5 eV. Free carriers damp electromagnetic waves at frequencies below the plasma frequency, estimated to be close to 1 eV, shutting down radiative heat transport. We find that thermal electrons are highly mobile, with small effective masses and weak scattering. Therefore, they become dominant carriers of heat. We predict electrical resistivity as low as 1000 micro-ohm cm. The activated exponential T-dependence of k(T) will promote the growth of superplumes in the deep post-perovskite mantle of super-earth planets( van den Berg, Beebe, Yuen, Fall AGU abstract, 2005 )

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

The Role of Electron Carriers for Thermal Conductivity in Super-Earth Planets does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Role of Electron Carriers for Thermal Conductivity in Super-Earth Planets, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Role of Electron Carriers for Thermal Conductivity in Super-Earth Planets will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-747515

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.