Onset of dynamo action in planetesimals

Abstract

Several meteorites have been found to carry primary remanent magnetizations imparted by fields generated within planetesimal cores during the early solar system. Thermal evolution models have shown that thermal convection likely drove the dynamo in the early evolution of these bodies. In such small cores, the magnetic Reynolds number is thought to be close to the threshold for dynamo action. However, the critical value of the magnetic Reynolds number, meaning its value at the onset, is also poorly constrained in dynamo simulations. We perform dynamo simulations to investigate the onset of the dynamo at different Ekman ($E$) and magnetic Prandtl ($Pm$) numbers, in a quasi-full sphere. Along two empirical paths in this $(E,Pm)$ space, the onset of dynamo action depends on whether the magnetic field is initially strong or weak. The onset of the dynamo occurs at larger supercriticality (ratio between the Rayleigh number ($Ra$) and its critical value ($Ra_c$)) when moving toward more realistic parameter values. Once extrapolated to planetesimal core conditions, the supercriticality for the onset of the dynamo is about $10^3$ for a strong initial magnetic field (meaning magnetic energy is of the same order of magnitude or larger than the kinetic energy). For a weak initial field, the required $Ra/Ra_c$ would be larger. Compared to previous estimates, this revised criterion facilitates dynamo activity, and so extends the lifetime of the magnetic field compared to previous models and allows the generation of a magnetic field in smaller planetesimals.