About the Seminar:

In many naturally occurring processes and in laboratory experiments matter can reach extreme conditions of pressure, temperature and density. Under such circumstances, conventional continuum models based on assuming a description of the system in terms of state variables defined everywhere in the domain shows serious limitations. At core matter is composed by particles and in some extreme circumstances the true nature of matter has to be considered. Examples of such behavior occur in matter probed by high-energy particle beams or lasers, in fusion experiments and in astrophysical systems.

Here we discuss particle-based methods as a general tool to handle matter under extreme conditions. After a general introduction, we present a new approach developed by the speaker and by his team at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

We will describe the methods used in the code and their physical motivation. The new approach is based on coupling a particle-based description of matter with a moment-based (continuum) model of the larger scales. This approach has the advantage of including the coupling of small scales and large scales and of treating each scale with the most efficient method available. A number of examples will be presented from applications of the approach to fusion research and material science.