Quantum critical phase of FeO spans conditions of Earth's lower mantle

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Ho, Wai-Ga D., Zhang, Peng, Haule, Kristjan, Jackson, Jennifer M., Dobrosavljevic, Vladimir, Dobrosavljevic, Vasilije V.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2023
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866910420106739712
author Ho, Wai-Ga D.
Zhang, Peng
Haule, Kristjan
Jackson, Jennifer M.
Dobrosavljevic, Vladimir
Dobrosavljevic, Vasilije V.
author_facet Ho, Wai-Ga D.
Zhang, Peng
Haule, Kristjan
Jackson, Jennifer M.
Dobrosavljevic, Vladimir
Dobrosavljevic, Vasilije V.
contents Earth's interior consists primarily of an insulating rocky mantle and a metallic iron-dominant core. Recent work has shown that mountain-scale structures at the core-mantle boundary may be highly enriched in FeO reported to exhibit high conductivity and metallic behavior at extreme pressure-temperature (P-T) conditions. However, the underlying electronic processes in FeO remain poorly understood and controversial. Here we systematically explore the electronic structure of B1-FeO at extreme conditions with large-scale theoretical modeling using state-of-the-art embedded dynamical mean field theory (eDMFT). Fine sampling of the phase diagram at more than 350 volume-temperature conditions reveals that, instead of sharp metallization, compression of FeO at high temperatures induces a gradual orbitally selective insulator-metal transition. Specifically, at P-T conditions of the lower mantle, FeO exists in an intermediate "quantum critical" state, characteristic of strongly correlated electronic matter. Transport in this regime, distinct from insulating or metallic behavior, is marked by incoherent diffusion of electrons in the conducting t_{2g} orbital and a band gap in the e_g orbital, resulting in moderate electrical conductivity (~ 10^5 S/m) with modest P -T dependence as observed in experiments. FeO-rich regions in Earth's lowermost mantle could thus influence electromagnetic interactions between the mantle and the core, producing several features observed in Earth's rotation and magnetic field evolution.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2301_04777
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Quantum critical phase of FeO spans conditions of Earth's lower mantle
Ho, Wai-Ga D.
Zhang, Peng
Haule, Kristjan
Jackson, Jennifer M.
Dobrosavljevic, Vladimir
Dobrosavljevic, Vasilije V.
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Earth's interior consists primarily of an insulating rocky mantle and a metallic iron-dominant core. Recent work has shown that mountain-scale structures at the core-mantle boundary may be highly enriched in FeO reported to exhibit high conductivity and metallic behavior at extreme pressure-temperature (P-T) conditions. However, the underlying electronic processes in FeO remain poorly understood and controversial. Here we systematically explore the electronic structure of B1-FeO at extreme conditions with large-scale theoretical modeling using state-of-the-art embedded dynamical mean field theory (eDMFT). Fine sampling of the phase diagram at more than 350 volume-temperature conditions reveals that, instead of sharp metallization, compression of FeO at high temperatures induces a gradual orbitally selective insulator-metal transition. Specifically, at P-T conditions of the lower mantle, FeO exists in an intermediate "quantum critical" state, characteristic of strongly correlated electronic matter. Transport in this regime, distinct from insulating or metallic behavior, is marked by incoherent diffusion of electrons in the conducting t_{2g} orbital and a band gap in the e_g orbital, resulting in moderate electrical conductivity (~ 10^5 S/m) with modest P -T dependence as observed in experiments. FeO-rich regions in Earth's lowermost mantle could thus influence electromagnetic interactions between the mantle and the core, producing several features observed in Earth's rotation and magnetic field evolution.
title Quantum critical phase of FeO spans conditions of Earth's lower mantle
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.04777