Paleomagnetism. Solar nebula magnetic fields recorded in the Semarkona meteorite

Roger R Fu; Benjamin P Weiss; Eduardo A Lima; Richard J Harrison; Xue-Ning Bai; Steven J Desch; Denton S Ebel; Clément Suavet; Huapei Wang; David Glenn; David Le Sage; Takeshi Kasama; Ronald L Walsworth; Aaron T Kuan

doi:10.1126/science.1258022

Paleomagnetism. Solar nebula magnetic fields recorded in the Semarkona meteorite

Science. 2014 Nov 28;346(6213):1089-92. doi: 10.1126/science.1258022. Epub 2014 Nov 13.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA. [email protected].
² Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA.
³ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁴ Hubble Fellow, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁵ School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
⁶ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), New York, NY, USA.
⁷ Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁸ Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁹ Center for Electron Nanoscopy, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
¹⁰ Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, USA. Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
¹¹ School of Engineering and Applied Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.

PMID: 25394792
DOI: 10.1126/science.1258022

Abstract

Magnetic fields are proposed to have played a critical role in some of the most enigmatic processes of planetary formation by mediating the rapid accretion of disk material onto the central star and the formation of the first solids. However, there have been no experimental constraints on the intensity of these fields. Here we show that dusty olivine-bearing chondrules from the Semarkona meteorite were magnetized in a nebular field of 54 ± 21 microteslas. This intensity supports chondrule formation by nebular shocks or planetesimal collisions rather than by electric currents, the x-wind, or other mechanisms near the Sun. This implies that background magnetic fields in the terrestrial planet-forming region were likely 5 to 54 microteslas, which is sufficient to account for measured rates of mass and angular momentum transport in protoplanetary disks.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.