Plastic Deformation of 2D Crumpled Wires

When a single long piece of elastic wire is injected trough channels into a confining two-dimensional cavity, a complex structure of hierarchical loops is formed. In the limit of maximum packing density, these structures are described by several scaling laws. In this paper it is investigated this packing process but using plastic wires which give origin to completely irreversible structures of different morphology. In particular, it is studied experimentally the plastic deformation from circular to oblate configurations of crumpled wires, obtained by the application of an axial strain. Among other things, it is shown that in spite of plasticity, irreversibility, and very large deformations, scaling is still observed.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

The complex Sine-Gordon equation as a symmetry flow of the AKNS Hierarchy

It is shown how the complex sine-Gordon equation arises as a symmetry flow of the AKNS hierarchy. The AKNS hierarchy is extended by the ``negative'' symmetry flows forming the Borel loop algebra. The complex sine-Gordon and the vector Nonlinear Schrodinger equations appear as lowest negative and second positive flows within the extended hierarchy. This is fully analogous to the well-known connection between the sine-Gordon and mKdV equations within the extended mKdV hierarchy. A general formalism for a Toda-like symmetry occupying the ``negative'' sector of sl(N) constrained KP hierarchy and giving rise to the negative Borel sl(N) loop algebra is indicated.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX, typos corrected, references update