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    Experiments Replicate High Densities in ‘White Dwarf’ Stars

    August 18, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    To study the pressures created by white dwarf stars, researchers fired nanometer laser light into a hohlraum—a tiny gold cylinder—bathing a 1 mm sample of a carbon-based compound in radiation heated to nearly 3.5 million degrees, at pressures ranging from 100 to 450 million atmospheres. (Illustration courtesy of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)

    Findings could shed light on creating new materials on Earth. For the first time, researchers have found a way to describe conditions deep in the convection zone of “white dwarf” stars, which are home to some of the densest collections of matter in the Universe.

    In a project conducted at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the research team, including University of Rochester engineering profess...

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