CARACAS Razvan
- Grade/Status : Chargé de Recherche - CNRS
- Institution : lgltpe ENS Lyon
- Phone :
33 (0)4 72 72 89 67
- E-mail : razvan.caracas[at]ens-lyon.fr
- URL : http://perso.ens-lyon.fr/razvan.caracas/
- Physique, chimie et mineralogie computationelle
- Materiaux sous conditions extremes
- Materiaux terrestres et planetaires
- I model mass-dependent isotope fractionation employing ab initio calculations of energy variations due to isotope substitutions. The calculations are based on the density functional theory, which allows for the exploration a vast space of thermodynamical and thermochemical conditions; they focus on the determination of the vibrational spectrum. I work on the isotope signatures of large-scale planetary processes. For example I determined the influence of hydration on the S isotope signature of the Mg-sulfates at the surface of Mars [Stability and spectroscopy of Mg sulfate minerals. Role of hydration on sulfur isotope partitioning, Ema Bobocioiu and Razvan Caracas, American Mineralogist, 99 (7), 1216-1220 (2014)].
- Then I worked on the Earth’s core formation: I computed the influence of light elements on the fractionation of Fe isotopes. Comparisons with today values of the Earth’s mantle suggested that H and C yield erroneous Fe isotope fractionation and as such cannot be major light elements of the core [Pressure-dependent isotopic composition of iron alloys, A. Shahar, E.A. Schauble, R. Caracas, A.E. Gleason, M.M. Reagan, Y. Xiao, J. Shu, W. Mao, Science, 352, 580-582 (2016)].
- Today my research is centered on the Giant Impact and the Moon formation; I use predictions of isotope fractionation between liquids and vapors during the condensation of the protolunar disk to bring further constraints on the thermodynamics of the Moon formation.
