The Academies shall establish a committee that will articulate the recent advances, status, and future directions of high energy density (HED) physics in the United States. The committee will consider HED physics as the physics of matter and radiation at energy densities exceeding 1 x 10^11 J/m3 or other temperature and pressure ranges within the warm dense matter regime. It will include a particular focus on HED material phases, plasmas atypical of astrophysical conditions, and conditions of interest to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The committee will then develop a report that will:
• Assess the progress and achievements in HED physics over the last decade, including theory, computation, modeling and simulation, driver development, instrument development, emerging technologies, analytical methods, and target fabrication.
• Identify major scientific gaps and potential new directions in areas of modeling, simulation, instrumentation, and target fabrication that offer the most promising near- and mid-term investment opportunities.
• Identify challenges that the field may face over the next decade in realizing those opportunities and offer guidance for addressing them, including, but not limited to, investment level, interagency collaboration, research tools, and infrastructure.
• Evaluate the role of HED physics in developing an expert workforce for NNSA and assess whether changes in resources, scientific focus, access to experimental facilities, or funding levels are necessary to meet nuclear security workforce needs in the coming decade.
• Assess the state and recent advances made by other countries in HED physics and discuss the relative standing of the United States.