Coordination Funds

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In the second funding period, the Research Unit continues to aim at improving the understanding of the composition and structure ofplanetary interiors through an interdisciplinary approach, involving experiments, theory, and modeling activities. We will study thephysical properties of rock-forming minerals and complex molecular mixtures, which are relevant for the most abundant extrasolar planetsdetected so far: super-Earths and Neptune-sized planets. Structural properties and phase stabilities will be investigated experimentallyusing novel methods of high pressure physics that enable us to access the pressure-temperature regime relevant for deep planetaryinteriors. Simultaneously, ab initio simulations will be performed in order to predict the thermophysical properties of these materials for awide range of pressure and temperature. These simulations will be benchmarked by experiments, but will also be important for thepreparation and evaluation of the proposed experiments. The acquired data will be used to constrain new models for the interior andthe evolution of super-Earths and Neptune-like planets and for the evaluation of their tidal response, which is characterized by Lovenumbers. The results will be applied to evaluate observational data for extrasolar planets from space missions such as Kepler, Gaia, TESS,CHEOPS, and PLATO 2.0 and will produce new insight in their formation, evolution, and interior structure.