The 8th International Conference on Matter and Radiation at Extremes (ICMRE2025)

94 / 2025-03-13 17:32:49

Experimental mineralogy of Super-Earths’ mantles

Super-Earths,,High-pressure dynamic compression, MgO-SiO2

Recent telescope observations increase the number of super-Earths as rocky-type exoplanets and their formation conditions can provide critical connections to the Earth formation although super-Earths are known only limited properties such as average density and size. Based on the density, the mantle mineralogy is proposed to compose of silicates as analogy of the Earth. And the discovery of super-Earths is important to understand the origin of life on Earth because they may have similarities to Earth. The super-Earths’ mantle mineralogy will be modeled primarily by the system MgO-SiO₂ and we require to understand the mineralogy in the system at the relevant pressures over 200 GPa [1,2,3]. In this system there are three key mineral components of Mg₂SiO₄, MgSiO₃ and MgSi₂O₅. Their stability changes as a function of high pressure complicate the phase diagram in the MgO-SiO₂ [4]. Recent laser shock techniques enable us to explore properties and structures of minerals in tera Pascual range of pressure relevant to super-Earths’ mantle. The experimental and simulation results on Mg₂SiO₄ and MgSiO₃ play a critical role to understand the mineralogy and geophysics of super-Earths. The results will have significant implications to model the stratification and evolution of super-Earths’ mantle. We will address our preliminary results on structural changes in shock-compressed magnesium silicates using X-ray diffraction techniques.