Equation of state and transport property measurements of warm dense matter.

Location of the liquid-vapor critical point (c.p.) is one of the key features of equation of state models used in simulating high energy density physics and pulsed power experiments. For example, material behavior in the location of the vapor dome is critical in determining how and when coronal plasmas form in expanding wires. Transport properties, such as conductivity and opacity, can vary an order of magnitude depending on whether the state of the material is inside or outside of the vapor dome. Due to the difficulty in experimentally producing states near the vapor dome, for all but a few materials, such as Cesium and Mercury, the uncertainty in the location of the c.p. is of order 100%. These states of interest can be produced on Z through high-velocity shock and release experiments. For example, it is estimated that release adiabats from {approx}1000 GPa in aluminum would skirt the vapor dome allowing estimates of the c.p. to be made. This is within the reach of Z experiments (flyer plate velocity of {approx}30 km/s). Recent high-fidelity EOS models and hydrocode simulations suggest that the dynamic two-phase flow behavior observed in initial scoping experiments can be reproduced, providing a link between theory and experiment. Experimental identification of the c.p. in aluminum would represent the first measurement of its kind in a dynamic experiment. Furthermore, once the c.p. has been experimentally determined it should be possible to probe the electrical conductivity, opacity, reflectivity, etc. of the material near the vapor dome, using a variety of diagnostics. We propose a combined experimental and theoretical investigation with the initial emphasis on aluminum

High energy-density water: density functional theory calculations of structure and electrical conductivity.

Knowledge of the properties of water is essential for correctly describing the physics of shock waves in water as well as the behavior of giant planets. By using finite temperature density functional theory (DFT), we have investigated the structure and electronic conductivity of water across three phase transitions (molecular liquid/ ionic liquid/super-ionic/electronic liquid). There is a rapid transition to ionic conduction at 2000 K and 2 g/cm{sup 3} while electronic conduction dominates at temperatures above 6000 K. We predict that the fluid bordering the super-ionic phase is conducting above 4000 K and 100 GPa. Earlier work instead has the super-ionic phase bordering an insulating fluid, with a transition to metallic fluid not until 7000 K and 250 GPa. The tools and expertise developed during the project can be applied to other molecular systems, for example, methane, ammonia, and CH foam. We are now well positioned to treat also complex molecular systems in the HEDP regime of phase-space

Equation of state and electrical conductivity of stainless steel.

Warm dense matter is the region in phase space of density and temperature where the thermal, Fermi, and Coulomb energies are approximately equal. The lack of a dominating scale and physical behavior makes it challenging to model the physics to high fidelity. For Sandia, a fundamental understanding of the region is of importance because of the needs of our experimental HEDP programs for high fidelity descriptive and predictive modeling. We show that multi-scale simulations of macroscopic physical phenomena now have predictive capability also for difficult but ubiquitous materials such as stainless steel, a transition metal alloy

Electrical conductivity in oxygen-deficient phases of transition metal oxides from first-principles calculations.

Density-functional theory calculations, ab-initio molecular dynamics, and the Kubo-Greenwood formula are applied to predict electrical conductivity in Ta2Ox (0x5) as a function of composition, phase, and temperature, where additional focus is given to various oxidation states of the O monovacancy (VOn; n=0,1+,2+). Our calculations of DC conductivity at 300K agree well with experimental measurements taken on Ta2Ox thin films and bulk Ta2O5 powder-sintered pellets, although simulation accuracy can be improved for the most insulating, stoichiometric compositions. Our conductivity calculations and further interrogation of the O-deficient Ta2O5 electronic structure provide further theoretical basis to substantiate VO0 as a donor dopant in Ta2O5 and other metal oxides. Furthermore, this dopant-like behavior appears specific to neutral VO cases in both Ta2O5 and TiO2 and was not observed in other oxidation states. This suggests that reduction and oxidation reactions may effectively act as donor activation and deactivation mechanisms, respectively, for VO0 in transition metal oxides

Giving an Account of One’s Pain in the Anthropological Interview

In this paper, I analyze the illness stories narrated by a mother and her 13-year-old son as part of an ethnographic study of child chronic pain sufferers and their families. In examining some of the moral, relational and communicative challenges of giving an account of one’s pain, I focus on what is left out of some accounts of illness and suffering and explore some possible reasons for these elisions. Drawing on recent work by Judith Butler (Giving an Account of Oneself, 2005), I investigate how the pragmatic context of interviews can introduce a form of symbolic violence to narrative accounts. Specifically, I use the term “genre of complaint” to highlight how anthropological research interviews in biomedical settings invoke certain typified forms of suffering that call for the rectification of perceived injustices. Interview narratives articulated in the genre of complaint privilege specific types of pain and suffering and cast others into the background. Giving an account of one’s pain is thus a strategic and selective process, creating interruptions and silences as much as moments of clarity. Therefore, I argue that medical anthropologists ought to attend more closely to the institutional structures and relations that shape the production of illness narratives in interview encounters

Equation of state and transport property measurements of warm dense matter.

Location of the liquid-vapor critical point (c.p.) is one of the key features of equation of state models used in simulating high energy density physics and pulsed power experiments. For example, material behavior in the location of the vapor dome is critical in determining how and when coronal plasmas form in expanding wires. Transport properties, such as conductivity and opacity, can vary an order of magnitude depending on whether the state of the material is inside or outside of the vapor dome. Due to the difficulty in experimentally producing states near the vapor dome, for all but a few materials, such as Cesium and Mercury, the uncertainty in the location of the c.p. is of order 100%. These states of interest can be produced on Z through high-velocity shock and release experiments. For example, it is estimated that release adiabats from {approx}1000 GPa in aluminum would skirt the vapor dome allowing estimates of the c.p. to be made. This is within the reach of Z experiments (flyer plate velocity of {approx}30 km/s). Recent high-fidelity EOS models and hydrocode simulations suggest that the dynamic two-phase flow behavior observed in initial scoping experiments can be reproduced, providing a link between theory and experiment. Experimental identification of the c.p. in aluminum would represent the first measurement of its kind in a dynamic experiment. Furthermore, once the c.p. has been experimentally determined it should be possible to probe the electrical conductivity, opacity, reflectivity, etc. of the material near the vapor dome, using a variety of diagnostics. We propose a combined experimental and theoretical investigation with the initial emphasis on aluminum

Exchange-only optimized effective potential calculation of excited state spectra for He and Be atoms.

The optimized effective potential (OEP) method allows orbital-dependent functionals to be used in density functional theory (DFT), which, in particular, allows exact exchange formulations of the exchange energy to be used in DFT calculations. Because the exact exchange is inherently self-interaction correcting, the resulting OEP calculations have been found to yield superior band-gaps for condensed-phase systems. Here we apply these methods to the isolated atoms He and Be, and compare to high quality experiments and calculations to demonstrate that the orbital energies accurately reproduce the excited state spectrum for these species. These results suggest that coupling the exchange-only OEP calculations with proper (orbital-dependent or other) correlation functions might allow quantitative accuracy from DFT calculations

Electrical conductivity in oxygen-deficient phases of transition metal oxides from first-principles calculations.

Density-functional theory calculations, ab-initio molecular dynamics, and the Kubo-Greenwood formula are applied to predict electrical conductivity in Ta2Ox (0x5) as a function of composition, phase, and temperature, where additional focus is given to various oxidation states of the O monovacancy (VOn; n=0,1+,2+). Our calculations of DC conductivity at 300K agree well with experimental measurements taken on Ta2Ox thin films and bulk Ta2O5 powder-sintered pellets, although simulation accuracy can be improved for the most insulating, stoichiometric compositions. Our conductivity calculations and further interrogation of the O-deficient Ta2O5 electronic structure provide further theoretical basis to substantiate VO0 as a donor dopant in Ta2O5 and other metal oxides. Furthermore, this dopant-like behavior appears specific to neutral VO cases in both Ta2O5 and TiO2 and was not observed in other oxidation states. This suggests that reduction and oxidation reactions may effectively act as donor activation and deactivation mechanisms, respectively, for VO0 in transition metal oxides