{"id":447762,"date":"2020-08-10T08:55:58","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T12:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=447762"},"modified":"2023-09-25T09:52:51","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T13:52:51","slug":"rochester-leads-effort-to-understand-matter-at-atom-crushing-pressures-447762","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/rochester-leads-effort-to-understand-matter-at-atom-crushing-pressures-447762\/","title":{"rendered":"Rochester leads effort to understand matter at atom-crushing pressures"},"content":{"rendered":"

NSF awards $13 million for multi-university initiative to explore \u2018revolutionary states of matter.\u2019<\/h2>\n

A new National Science Foundation<\/a> (NSF) Physics Frontier Center, hosted at the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½<\/a>\u2014in collaboration with researchers at MIT, Princeton, the Universities of California at Berkeley and Davis, the University at Buffalo, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory\u2014will focus on understanding the physics and astrophysical implications of matter under pressures so high that the structure of individual atoms is disrupted.<\/p>\n

The Center for Matter at Atomic Pressures (CMAP) will be funded with a five-year, $12.96 million award<\/a> from the NSF.<\/p>\n

The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) bring together some of the nation\u2019s most highly regarded university-based centers funded by the NSF to enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Physics Frontiers Centers program supports creative and interdisciplinary work at the frontiers of physics,\u201d says Jean Cottam Allen, the NSF program officer overseeing the centers. \u201cResearchers at the Center for Matter at Atomic Pressures are investigating a new frontier of matter at extreme pressures.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the first major initiative from NSF in the field of high-energy-density science and follows several recent smaller grants and awards, including a previous investment in establishing the HADES facility<\/a> for studies of matter under extreme pressures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis effort will help discover the nature of planets and stars throughout the universe, as well as the potential for new revolutionary states of matter here on Earth,\u201d says principal investigator Gilbert (Rip) Collins<\/a>, the Tracy Hyde Harris Professor of Mechanical Engineering, a professor of physics and astronomy, and associate director of science, technology, and academics at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) at Rochester.<\/p>\n

Leading a \u2018paradigm shift\u2019 in high-energy-density physics<\/h2>\n

Impetus for the project is two-fold, Collins says:<\/p>\n

First is a recent \u201cparadigm shift in how we think about extreme states of matter.\u201d It was previously believed, for example, that materials subjected to very high, atomic-scale pressure, would transition to simple, densely packed metals. \u201cHowever, recent theoretical and experimental results now suggest such extreme matter can become increasingly more complicated, with extraordinarily exotic properties,\u201d Collins says. Aluminum, for example, may transform from a simple metal to a transparent insulator, hydrogen from a gas into a superconducting superfluid, and traditional hot conducting plasma to an insulating plasma.<\/p>\n

Second is that thousands of planets, some of which may be platforms for life, have been discovered outside the solar system. To understand the nature of such massive bodies, researchers need to understand the planets\u2019 deep interior states, which are under extreme pressures due to the crushing forces of gravity.<\/p>\n

CMAP will lead discoveries at the confluence of two movements in science. Combining powerful lasers, pulsed-power, and X-ray beam technology with first-principles theory and astrophysical interpretation, the center will concentrate on four main areas of fundamental research:<\/p>\n