101 research outputs found
Deblocking of interacting particle assemblies: from pinning to jamming
A wide variety of interacting particle assemblies driven by an external force
are characterized by a transition between a blocked and a moving phase. The
origin of this deblocking transition can be traced back to the presence of
either external quenched disorder, or of internal constraints. The first case
belongs to the realm of the depinning transition, which, for example, is
relevant for flux-lines in type II superconductors and other elastic systems
moving in a random medium. The second case is usually included within the
so-called jamming scenario observed, for instance, in many glassy materials as
well as in plastically deforming crystals. Here we review some aspects of the
rich phenomenology observed in interacting particle models. In particular, we
discuss front depinning, observed when particles are injected inside a random
medium from the boundary, elastic and plastic depinning in particle assemblies
driven by external forces, and the rheology of systems close to the jamming
transition. We emphasize similarities and differences in these phenomena.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, submitted for a special issue of the Brazilian
Journal of Physics entitled: Statistical Mechanics of Irreversible Stochastic
Models - I
A micromechanical model of collapsing quicksand
The discrete element method constitutes a general class of modeling
techniques to simulate the microscopic behavior (i.e. at the particle scale) of
granular/soil materials. We present a contact dynamics method, accounting for
the cohesive nature of fine powders and soils. A modification of the model
adjusted to capture the essential physical processes underlying the dynamics of
generation and collapse of loose systems is able to simulate "quicksand"
behavior of a collapsing soil material, in particular of a specific type, which
we call "living quicksand". We investigate the penetration behavior of an
object for varying density of the material. We also investigate the dynamics of
the penetration process, by measuring the relation between the driving force
and the resulting velocity of the intruder, leading to a "power law" behavior
with exponent 1/2, i.e. a quadratic velocity dependence of the drag force on
the intruder.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for granular matte
Searching for superspreaders of information in real-world social media
A number of predictors have been suggested to detect the most influential
spreaders of information in online social media across various domains such as
Twitter or Facebook. In particular, degree, PageRank, k-core and other
centralities have been adopted to rank the spreading capability of users in
information dissemination media. So far, validation of the proposed predictors
has been done by simulating the spreading dynamics rather than following real
information flow in social networks. Consequently, only model-dependent
contradictory results have been achieved so far for the best predictor. Here,
we address this issue directly. We search for influential spreaders by
following the real spreading dynamics in a wide range of networks. We find that
the widely-used degree and PageRank fail in ranking users' influence. We find
that the best spreaders are consistently located in the k-core across
dissimilar social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Livejournal and
scientific publishing in the American Physical Society. Furthermore, when the
complete global network structure is unavailable, we find that the sum of the
nearest neighbors' degree is a reliable local proxy for user's influence. Our
analysis provides practical instructions for optimal design of strategies for
"viral" information dissemination in relevant applications.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
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