Tuning Energy Density to Reveal or Control Properties of Extreme Matter

The 2014 Gordon Conference on Research at High Pressure and its associated Gordon Research Seminar will bring together present and future leaders in the science of extreme pressure and compression. The conference will feature cutting-edge static- and dynamic-compression experiments and computational methods to study dense hydrogen, structural evolution of solids and fluids, transport properties at extreme energy density, Earth and planetary sciences, interplay between thermodynamics and kinetics, and high-pressure chemistry and biology. Invited speakers represent a variety of scientific disciplines: Earth science, physics, materials science, chemistry and biology. The GRC and associated GRS will provide opportunities for early career scientists and students to present their work in oral, poster and informal formats.

Significant recent interest in high-pressure science is due in part by our desire to understand the nature of recently discovered extra-solar planets, to produce new materials (e.g., superhard, superconducting), to understand the evolution of carbon based systems at extremes, and to generate controlled inertial fusion energy. Moreover, the role of pressure in the evolution of order and complexity has changed dramatically in the past few years. For the better part of the last century, pressure was thought to be the great destroyer of complex structure and bonding. However recent discoveries show that complexity can persist and in some cases emerge with increasing compression. This conference will bring together scientists exploring matter at several pressure (energy density) scales: the pressure required to alter chemical energy of cells controlling metabolism (~10 bar), to irreversibly crush a crystal lattice (~kbar), to alter the nature of traditional chemical bonds (~Mbar), and to distort core-electron orbitals (atomic pressure ~100 Mbar). In each of these regimes, nature makes important tradeoffs between disorder, order and complexity. The collegial atmosphere of this conference, will provide an avenue for brainstorming and cross-disciplinary collaborations among all participants and research areas represented.

J.C. Jamieson and A. Van Valkenburg Awards: Traditionally, the attendees of this conference have honored an early-career scientist (Alvin Van Valkenburg Award) and an outstanding graduate student (J.C. Jamieson Award) working in the area of high pressure research. Please send a supporting letter and CV for nominations. The recipients of these awards will be given travel support and invited talks to present their work.