Mercury's Internal Structure
Abstract
We describe the current state of knowledge about Mercury's interior structure. We review the available observational constraints, including mass, size, density, gravity field, spin state, composition, and tidal response. These data enable the construction of models that represent the distribution of mass inside Mercury. In particular, we infer radial profiles of the pressure, density, and gravity in the core, mantle, and crust. We also examine Mercury's rotational dynamics and the influence of an inner core on the spin state and the determination of the moment of inertia. Finally, we discuss the wide-ranging implications of Mercury's internal structure on its thermal evolution, surface geology, capture in a unique spin-orbit resonance, and magnetic field generation.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1806.02024,
title = {Mercury's Internal Structure},
author = {Jean-Luc Margot and Steven A. Hauck and Erwan Mazarico and Sebastiano Padovan and Stanton J. Peale},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1806.02024},
year = {2020}
}
Comments
36 pages, 11 figures, in press, to appear in "Mercury - The View after MESSENGER", S. C. Solomon, B. J. Anderson, L. R. Nittler (editors), Cambridge University Press