Thermally Induced Metastability of Body-Centered-Cubic Iron at High Electron Temperature
An ab initio result showing that at high electron temperatures and multi-megabar pressures, the normally unstable body-centered-cubic phase of iron becomes metastable: the potential energy surface develops a plateau and local minimum, all phonon modes stabilize, and large lattice-vibration entropy enhances thermodynamic stability, intensifying structural competition among the BCC, HCP, and FCC phases. Provides a theoretical framework for iron phase relations and solidification under the non-equilibrium conditions of a planetary inner core.
Thermal Induced Structural Competitiveness and Metastability of Body-centered Cubic Iron under
Using ab initio (density functional theory) calculations, this paper examines the stability of body-centered-cubic (BCC) iron near melting at multi-megabar pressures relevant to Earth's inner core, w…