Mercuryʹs thermoelectric dynamo model revisited

We reconsider the thermoelectric dynamo model for the generation of the magnetic field of Mercury, as proposed by Stevenson (Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 82 (1987) 114). We briefly review the status of our knowledge about the nature of Mercuryʹs planetary field, and describe the main features of the field generated through a thermoelectric dynamo, including its multipole expansion. We then discuss the possibility of testing this model, by correlating future measurements of Mercuryʹs magnetic and gravitational fields. We conclude that the test is, in principle, very robust, and discuss possible limits on its interpretation.