Panel to discuss expanding high-energy density research

Panel to discuss expanding high-energy density research

Recent advances in laser technology, magnetic pinches, particle beams and other devices are making it possible for physicists to harness huge densities of energy in the laboratory. In the near future, scientists expect to be able to recreate in the laboratory some of the physical conditions that are relevant to extreme cosmic phenomena like accreting neutron stars — which weigh about a billion tons per teaspoon — and stellar explosions called “supernovae” that can shine as bright as an entire galaxy.

With prices for short-pulse lasers and other critical high-energy density (HED) technology falling rapidly, it is now feasible for universities to consider, for the first time, building their own HED laboratories. Several National Research Council advisory panels have suggested that the federal government invest heavily in university-based labs to keep the U.S. at the fore in this blossoming new research field.

Saturday, March 11, at 7:30 p.m., a panel of experts that includes Rice University physicist Neal Lane will discuss the advantages and importance of expanding HED research beyond national research laboratories. Lane is the Malcolm Gillis University Professor, senior fellow in science and technology at Rice’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy and professor of physics and astronomy.

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Nuclear Security Administration, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory will be among the experts discussing the options facing government policymakers and universities as they move toward increasing HED research at both universities and national laboratories.

The panel will meet in 1049 Anne and Charles Duncan Hall, and the event will be webcast at <http://webcast.rice.edu>.

The discussion is part of the Sixth International Conference on High-Energy Density Laboratory Astrophysics, which Rice is sponsoring and hosting March 11-14. The conference is the second HED astrophysics conference held at Rice, which hosted a meeting in 2000.

The conference is co-sponsored by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the American Physical Society’s Topical Group for Plasma Astrophysics.

More information is available at <www.hedla.org>.