Thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity of solid iron at Earth's core conditions from first-principles

Abstract

We compute the thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity of solid hcp Fe to pressures and temperatures of Earth's core. We find significant contributions from electron-electron scattering, usually neglected at high temperatures in transition metals. Our calculations show a quasi-linear relation between electrical resistivity and temperature for hcp Fe at extreme high pressures. We obtain thermal and electrical conductivities that are consistent with experiments considering reasonable error. The predicted thermal conductivity is reduced from previous estimates that neglect electron-electron scattering. Our estimated thermal conductivity for the outer core is 77$\pm$10 W/m/K, and is consistent with a geodynamo driven by thermal convection.

6 pages, 6 figures (Supplemental material: 7 pages, 4 figures, 6 tables)

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• Electronic correlations in dense iron: from moderate pressure to Earth's core conditions
• Magnetic fluctuations and superconducting pairing in $\epsilon$-iron
• Impact of Electronic Correlations on High-Pressure Iron: Insights from Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory
• Thermal conductivity of iron and nickel during melting: Implication to Planetary liquid outer core
• Influence of oxygen on electronic correlation and transport in iron in the outer Earth's core
• The probabilistic structure of the geodynamo
• Oxygen-driven enhancement of electron correlation in hexagonal iron at Earth's inner core conditions
• Ab initio determination on the thermal evolution of the Earth's core
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