[Baps] Collins Talk/Planetary Interiors/Mon Nov 16

[Sarah Stewart-Mukhopadhyay]

Harvard Physics Colloquium

Recreating Core States of Giant Planets in the Laboratory, A New Generation
of Condensed Matter Science
Gilbert Collins
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
(Jefferson 250 Tea served in Jefferson 450 @ 3:30 pm)

Nov 16, 2009
4:15p - 5:15p

Description A breakthrough in exploring the behavior of materials at high
compressions, to 1000-fold initial density, is underway thanks to
experimental developments associated with achieving inertially confined
fusion in the laboratory. The material states existing deep inside giant
planets and brown dwarfs, and the hot-dense plasmas in stars like the Sun,
are becoming accessible in the laboratory. Recent experiments show that at
even a fraction of these compressions material behavior becomes somewhat
exotic, with helium transforming to a metal at ~2 g/cc, fluid carbon being a
polymeric metal up to 2 TPa (20 Mbar or 20 million atmospheres pressure),
and diamond exhibiting remarkable strength when "isentropically" compressed
to 800 GPa (8 Mbar). These capabilities allow us to explore the nature of
solids to several TPa, complex chemistry to 100 TPa (1 Gbar), and the nature
of helium and hydrogen in the deep interiors of Jupiter and even super-giant
exoplanets.

Web site: www.physics.harvard.edu
Contact name: Dayle Maynard
Contact e-mail: maynard at physics.harvard.edu
Contact phone: 617.495.2872
Source Calendar: Physics Monday Colloquia


-- 
Sarah T. Stewart-Mukhopadhyay
John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences
Dept. of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Harvard University

Google Voice 617.863.0423
sstewart at eps.harvard.edu
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~planets/sstewart/
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