From Slurries to Space Dust: Particle Systems Science and Extreme Environments

Discrete particle-based media, “granular media”, from clay to gravel, from cosmetics to coffee beans, from dust to suspensions comprise a large fraction of Tera-ton scale applications on earth and other planets. “Human-based” applications include construction, food, and pharmaceutical products. “Natural” granular media play a significant role in planetary processes from mantle dynamics in earth’s lithosphere to mountain formation on earth and other planets. Despite their omnipresence, these materials present major challenges to scientists and engineers, for example, when predicting their mechanical functionalities and how these functionalities vary with particle property, interstitial fluid properties, and the like. There is a great need to understand how the elastic, plastic and viscous behavior of powders and grains emerges from the microscopic features of the particles and the way they interact. Facing these challenges requires multidisciplinary approaches from a broad range of fields, encompassing engineering, mathematics, physics and chemistry and geological and planetary sciences. In addition to the numerous applications of particulate behaviors, granular matter is an oft-used model system that provides a foundation and insights into many other fundamental phenomena including “soft matter” such as foams, active matter, material creep and emergent behavior. This 11th Gordon Conference on “Granular Matter” will celebrate the wide range of topics covered by granular materials and look towards the frontiers of granular matter science by focusing on applications under what we might call “extreme” conditions and environments. We emphasize the broad reach of granular materials, across disciplines and its relevance for both fundamental research and applications. The collegial atmosphere of this conference including formal discussions organized around the oral presentations, poster sessions, organized discussion around DEI topics, and opportunities for informal gatherings in the afternoons and evenings provides an avenue for scientists and engineers from different disciplines to brainstorm and promotes cross-disciplinary collaborations in the various research areas represented.