Abstract
The Mercury’s magnetic fields are known to be weaker than that predicted
by conventional dynamo models. In order to explain the Mercury’s weak
magnetic field, several models are proposed (Stanley and Glatzmaier,
2010). One of them is the thermoelectric dynamo, which drive the dynamo
via the thermoelectric force (Stevenson, 1987). The field strength is
proportional to the relative Seebeck coefficient between the core and
the mantle. Because the Seebeck coefficient of insulators is more than
one order larger than that of metals, the Seebeck coefficient of
Mercury’s mantle is the central parameter. Therefore, we investigated
the Seebeck coefficient of mantle minerals from the first-principles
calculations. The structure relaxation and band structure calculations
were conducted by using the Quantum ESPRESSO package. The bandgap energy
was calibrated by means of the quasiparticles self-consistent GW (QSGW)
approximation adopted in the ecalj package. The Seebeck coefficient was
calculated via the Boltzmann equation implemented in the BoltzTraP
package. The results indicate that the Seebeck coefficient of forsterite
with a small amount of dopant exhibit comparable to that previously
thought (|S| ~ 1000 μV/K). This value
may constrain the upper limit. The Mercury’s mantle may contain
~3wt% FeO (Robinson and Taylor, 2001). The Fe
substitution and O vacancy act as donor, which is predicted to reduce
the Seebeck coefficient, significantly. The field strength also depends
on the electrical conductivity of the mangle. Recent high pressure
experiments suggest that the electrical conductivity of the Earth’s
mantle is ~ 10^-2 Sm. Considering the both of the
Seebeck coefficient and the electrical conductivity of mantle material,
the field strength is calculated to be ~ 0.1 nT, which
is significantly weaker than the observed value of 300 nT. Therefore, we
conclude that the thermoelectric dynamo cannot generate the Mercury’s
magnetic fields.