Energetic Requirements for Dynamos in the Metallic Cores of Super-Earth
and Super-Venus Exoplanets
Abstract
Super-Earth and super-Venus exoplanets may have similar bulk
compositions, but their surface conditions and mantle dynamics are
vastly different. Vigorous convection within their metallic cores may
produce dynamos and thus magnetospheres if the total heat flow out of
the core exceeds a critical value. Earth has a core-hosted dynamo
because plate tectonics cools the core relatively rapidly. In contrast,
Venus has no dynamo and its deep interior probably cools slowly,
potentially due to a lack of plate tectonics. It is not fully known how
or if magnetic fields affect habitability, but the size of a
magnetosphere might indirectly constrain the habitability of a surface.
In this study, we developed scaling laws for how planetary mass affects
the minimum heat flows required to sustain both thermal and chemical
convection, which we compared to a simple model for the actual heat flow
of both super-Earth and super-Venus exoplanets conveyed by solid-state
mantle convection. We calculated three critical thresholds for heat flow
based on varying the size of an inner core, the rate at which light
elements precipitate at the core-mantle boundary, and the thermal
conductivity of the core. We found that the required heat flows increase
with planetary mass (to a power of ~0.8–0.9), but the
actual heat flows of both super-Earths and super-Venuses could increase
even faster (to a power of ~1.6) (Figure 1). Massive
super-Earths are likely to host a dynamo in their metallic cores if
their silicate mantles are entirely solid. Super-Venuses with relatively
slow mantle convection could host a dynamo if their mass exceeds
~1.5 (with an inner core) or ~4 (without
an inner core) Earth-masses. However, the mantles of massive rocky
exoplanets might not be completely solid. Basal magma oceans may reduce
the heat flow across the core-mantle boundary and smother any
core-hosted dynamo. Detecting a magnetosphere at an Earth-mass planet
probably signals Earth-like geodynamics. In contrast, magnetic fields
may not reliably reveal if a massive exoplanet is a super-Earth or a
super-Venus. We eagerly await direct observations in the next few
decades. Published in JGR, doi:10.1029/2020JE006739