Ab initio melting curve of iron at extreme pressures: implications for exoplanets' cores

Details Ab initio melting curve of iron at extreme pressures: implications for exoplanets' cores Ab initio melting curve of iron at extreme pressures: implications for exoplanets' cores

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufm.p21a1583b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #P21A-1583

Physics

[3924] Mineral Physics / High-Pressure Behavior, [5410] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Composition

Scientific paper

Exoplanets with masses similar to that of Earth have recently been discovered1. A first order question for understanding their dynamics is to know whether they possess Earth like liquid metallic cores. However, the iron melting curve is unknown at conditions corresponding to planets of several times the Earth's mass (over 15 Mbar for planets with 10 times the Earth’s mass (ME)2). In the density-temperature region of the cores of those super-Earths, we calculate the iron melting curve using first principle molecular dynamics simulations based on density functional theory. By comparing calculated thermal profiles of Super Earths, we show that planets heavier than 3-5 ME have solid cores, thus precluding the existence of an internal magnetic field. This new field of investigation of the iron melting curve shows that the Earth may be close to the maximal size for a terrestrial planet to possess a partially molten metallic core. References 1 J. P. Beaulieu, D. P. Bennett, P. Fouque et al., Nature 439 (7075), 437 (2006). 2 D. Valencia, R. J. O'Connell, and D. Sasselov, Icarus 181, 545 (2006).

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