MESSENGER Fellow Natalia Gómez Pérez joined DTM on 1 October, following the defense of her Ph.D. at the University of Alberta last month. Gómez Pérez’s thesis involved numerical studies of magnetic dynamos in planets, including terrestrial planets, ice giants, and gas giants. By mean of numerical simulations, she showed that the intensity and geometry of planetary magnetic fields are determined by the internal structure and the physical properties of the dynamo-generating fluid.

In terrestrial planets, the external magnetic field geometry reflects the internal structure (primarily inner core radius) of the planet. The magnetic fields of the ice giants Uranus and Neptune, discovered by Voyager, may owe their unusual characteristics (e.g., strongly non-dipolar fields) to the low electrical conductivity of the dynamo generation layer. For the gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, radial variations in electrical conductivity change significantly the geometry of the external magnetic field.

At DTM Gómez Pérez will be working with DTM Director and MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon on the development of numerical models for magnetic dynamos in Mercury, she will be collaborating on models for Mercury’s magnetosphere consistent with those dynamo models, and she will be leading tests of both types of models using magnetometer and charged particle spectrometer data to be obtained by the MESSENGER spacecraft during its three flybys of Mercury in 2008-2009.