Stony Brook Professor Develops Solution to Planetary Mystery

A method of predicting crystal structures developed by a Stony Brook University professor has offered a solution to the mystery of why the planet Neptune radiates excessive heat, the university said Wednesday.

Artem Oganov, a professor of geosciences and physics, developed a method called "Universal Structure Predictor: Evolutionary Xtallography," or USPEX, which he and colleagues used to determine that the origin of the phenomenon is likely the sinking of large amounts of diamond in the planet's interior.

According to a university release, USPEX can predict stable crystal structures using only a chemical formula. It is said to solve a fundamental problem in the field of computational materials science in what one researcher described as a "simple and elegant modeling approach."

It "opens new perspectives in materials sciences," said professor Gilles Frapper, who leads a theoretical chemistry group at Poitiers University in France. "USPEX provides great opportunities to predict the structure of compounds simply starting from a chemical formula and letting the 'evolutionary code' work."

Oganov and his team laid the groundwork for this discovery in 2006 when they developed a biological evolution-inspired algorithm, which is available for free on Oganov's website. The university said the program is now used by more than 250 researchers around the world and has yielded at least 50 publications in respected scientific journals.

"Results in this work are extremely interesting and are expected to help in developing realistic models of internal evolution and energetics of planets like Neptune and Uranus," said Aitor Bergara, a professor at Spain's University of the Basque Country.

Oganov discusses many of his findings in the book Modern Methods of Crystal Structure Prediction, released in November, which he edited.

"This is a very exciting time," he said. "What was thought to be impossible yesterday is now becoming possible, including the discovery of new materials on the computer."