A Hydrodynamic model for a dynamical jammed-to-flowing transition in gravity driven granular media

Granular material on an inclined plane will flow like a fluid if the angle $\theta$ the plane makes with the horizontal is large enough. We employ a modification of a hydrodynamic model introduced previously to describe Couette flow experiments to describe chute flow down a plane. In this geometry, our model predicts a jammed-to-flowing transition as $\theta$ is increased even though it does not include solid friction, which might seem necessary to stabilize a state without flow. The transition is driven by coupling between mean and fluctuating velocity. In agreement with experiments and simulations, it predicts flow for layers with a thickness H larger than a critical value $H_{\rm stop}(\theta)$ and absence of flow for $H<H_{\rm stop}(\theta)$

Wandering of a contact line at thermal equilibrium

We reconsider the problem of the solid-liquid-vapour contact-line on a disordered substrate, in the collective pinning regime. We go beyond scaling arguments and perform an analytic computation, through the replica variational method, of the fluctuations of the line. We show how gravity effects must be included for a proper quantitative comparison with available experimental data of the wetting of liquid helium on a caesium substrate. The theoretical result is in good agreement with experimental findings for this case.Comment: 24 laTex pages with 5 EPS figures included. submitted to Phys. Rev

Disordered Type-II Superconductors: A Universal Phase Diagram for Low-Tc_c Systems

A universal phase diagram for weakly pinned low-T$_c$ type-II superconductors is revisited and extended with new proposals. The low-temperature ``Bragg glass'' phase is argued to transform first into a disordered, glassy phase upon heating. This glassy phase, a continuation of the high-field equilibrium vortex glass phase, then melts at higher temperatures into a liquid. This proposal provides an explanation for the anomalies observed in the peak effect regime of 2H-NbSe$_2$ and several other low-T$_c$ materials which is independent of the microscopic mechanisms of superconductivity in these systems.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figure

Phase Behavior of Type-II Superconductors with Quenched Point Pinning Disorder: A Phenomenological Proposal

A general phenomenology for phase behaviour in the mixed phase of type-II superconductors with weak point pinning disorder is outlined. We propose that the ``Bragg glass'' phase generically transforms via two separate thermodynamic phase transitions into a disordered liquid on increasing the temperature. The first transition is into a glassy phase, topologically disordered at the largest length scales; current evidence suggests that it lacks the long-ranged phase correlations expected of a ``vortex glass''. This phase has a significant degree of short-ranged translational order, unlike the disordered liquid, but no quasi-long range order, in contrast to the Bragg glass. This glassy phase, which we call a ``multi-domain glass'', is confined to a narrow sliver at intermediate fields, but broadens out both for much larger and much smaller field values. The multi-domain glass may be a ``hexatic glass''; alternatively, its glassy properties may originate in the replica symmetry breaking envisaged in recent theories of the structural glass transition. Estimates for translational correlation lengths in the multi-domain glass indicate that they can be far larger than the interline spacing for weak disorder, suggesting a plausible mechanism by which signals of a two-step transition can be obscured. Calculations of the Bragg glass-multi-domain glass and the multi-domain glass-disordered liquid phase boundaries are presented and compared to experimental data. We argue that these proposals provide a unified picture of the available experimental data on both high-T$_c$ and low-T$_c$ materials, simulations and current theoretical understanding.Comment: 70 pages, 9 postscript figures, modified title and minor changes in published versio