# A New Theory of Geomagnetism

## 1 Introduction

In 1905 Albert Einstein described Geomagnetism as one of the five unsolved problems of physics. After nearly a century, inspite of a tremendous amount of work which has culminated in the dynamo model of Geomagnetism, , it cannot be said with confidence that the problem has been solved. From time to time, simulations are developed which improve upon earlier models, but several unexplained features persist. These include the problems of Geomagnetic reversals. In particular it may be mentioned (cf.ref. and )that Muller and Morris have attributed the reversals to asteroid impacts, which in turn have been related to mass extinctions.   
We will point out in what follows that in the light of recent work on semionic and anomalous behaviour of Fermions under special conditions, the solid core of the earth which has hitherto not been considered could contribute significantly to Geomagnetism, and could even facilitate an explanation for the magnetic reversals.

## 2 Magnetism of the Solid Core

It is well known that the earth has a solid core with a radius of about 1200 kilometers, composed mostly of Iron $`(90\%)`$ and Nickel $`(10\%)`$, at a temperature of about 6000 degrees centigrade and with a relative density around 10. This in turn is surrounded by the liquid core which it is believed gives rise to the dynamo model of Geomagnetism.   
Given the above data, using the atomic weight of iron, we can easily calculate that the number of atoms in the solid core, $`N`$ is given by,

$$N10^{48}$$
(1)   
where the symbol $``$ denotes, ”of the order of”.   
We next calculate the Fermi temperature of the conduction electrons in the solid core. This is given by,

$$kT_F=\left\{6\pi ^2\left(\frac{N}{V}\right)\right\}^{2/3}\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m}$$
(2)   
where $`V`$ is the volume of the solid core, $`k`$ is the Boltzmann constant $`\mathrm{}`$ is the reduced Planck constant and $`m`$ the electron mass.   
It follows from (2) that

$$T_F10^{5^o}C$$
(3)   
Thus one can see that the temperature of the solid core is below the Fermi temperature of the conduction electrons.   
In recent years it has been realized that under special conditions like low dimensionality or temperatures, conduction electrons do not strictly obey Fermi-Dirac statistics, but rather they are semionic, that is they obey statistics between the Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein statistics . In particular, this is true below the Fermi temperature . The implications are interesting:   
Given Fermi Dirac statistics, at temperatures below the Fermi temperature we would have (cf.ref.) for the magnetisation $`M`$ per unit volume the formula

$$M=\frac{\mu (2\overline{N}_+N)}{V}$$
(4)   
where $`\mu `$ is the electron magnetic moment and $`\overline{N}_+`$ is the average number of electrons with spin up, say, where $`\overline{N}_+\frac{N}{2}`$, so that $`M`$ in (4) is very small.   
However if the behaviour is not Fermionic, but rather Bosonic, then

$$\overline{N}_+N$$

In our case,

$$\frac{N}{2}<\overline{N}_+<N$$

With this input (4) becomes,

$$M\frac{\mu N}{V}$$
(5)   
From (5) we can easily deduce that the terrestrial magnetic field $`H`$ is given by,

$$H\frac{MV}{r^3}1G$$

The above order of magnetic calculation thus gives the correct order of the terrestrial magnetism. Moreover, this would have the added advantage that it could explain geomagnetic reversals: The semionic behaviour of the electrons in the solid core is sensitive to external magnetic influences and could thus flip or reverse polarity. On the other hand, the explanation in the case of the convective dynamo model would be contrived in comparison.