The Z to Planets Project: Exploring giant impacts and rocky exoplanet interiors at the Sandia Z Machine
POSTER
Abstract
The Z to Planets project in the Z Fundamental Science Program has focused on measuring the physical properties of the major building blocks of Earth-like and Super-Earth planets. The program has built a body of equation of state data on major silicate minerals, building upon previous work on the end-member compositions in the MgO-SiO2-Fe system. Through multi-sample planar shock-and-release experiments at 100’s GPa, our project has measured the principal Hugoniot states (PVT), partial release states, and states on the liquid branch of the vapor curve for forsterite (Mg2SiO4), olivine ((Mg,Fe)2SiO4), enstatite (MgSiO3), bronzite ((Mg,Fe)SiO3), and a synthetic glass with a bulk composition similar to the silicate portion of the Earth. These data are being used to improve equation of state models for calculations of planetary collisions and interior structures. Here we present the experimental design and highlight the dataset and applications to giant impacts.
*This work was supported by the Z Fundamental Science Program and DOE-NNSA grants DE-NA0003904, DE-NA0002937 and DE-NA0001804. SNL is managed by NTESS, LLC under contract DE-NA0003525. Prepared by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. Work at Los Alamos National Laboratory is supported by the US DOE through contract number 89233218NCA000001. Sandia contribution SAND2022-3047. We thank Marcus Knudson and Heath Hanshaw for their support of the ZFSP experiments.
Presenters
-
Sarah T Stewart
- University of California, Davis