Non-equilibrium thermodynamics in sheared hard-sphere materials

We combine the shear-transformation-zone (STZ) theory of amorphous plasticity with Edwards' statistical theory of granular materials to describe shear flow in a disordered system of thermalized hard spheres. The equations of motion for this system are developed within a statistical thermodynamic framework analogous to that which has been used in the analysis of molecular glasses. For hard spheres, the system volume $V$ replaces the internal energy $U$ as a function of entropy $S$ in conventional statistical mechanics. In place of the effective temperature, the compactivity $X = \partial V / \partial S$ characterizes the internal state of disorder. We derive the STZ equations of motion for a granular material accordingly, and predict the strain rate as a function of the ratio of the shear stress to the pressure for different values of a dimensionless, temperature-like variable near a jamming transition. We use a simplified version of our theory to interpret numerical simulations by Haxton, Schmiedeberg and Liu, and in this way are able to obtain useful insights about internal rate factors and relations between jamming and glass transitions.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Thermodynamic dislocation theory of high-temperature deformation in aluminum and steel

The statistical-thermodynamic dislocation theory developed in previous papers is used here in an analysis of high-temperature deformation of aluminum and steel. Using physics-based parameters that we expect theoretically to be independent of strain rate and temperature, we are able to fit experimental stress-strain curves for three different strain rates and three different temperatures for each of these two materials. Our theoretical curves include yielding transitions at zero strain in agreement with experiment. We find that thermal softening effects are important even at the lowest temperatures and smallest strain rates.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Localized induction equation and pseudospherical surfaces

We describe a close connection between the localized induction equation hierarchy of integrable evolution equations on space curves, and surfaces of constant negative Gauss curvature.Comment: 21 pages, AMSTeX file. To appear in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Genera

Shear flow of angular grains: acoustic effects and non-monotonic rate dependence of volume

Naturally-occurring granular materials often consist of angular particles whose shape and frictional characteristics may have important implications on macroscopic flow rheology. In this paper, we provide a theoretical account for the peculiar phenomenon of auto-acoustic compaction -- non-monotonic variation of shear band volume with shear rate in angular particles -- recently observed in experiments. Our approach is based on the notion that the volume of a granular material is determined by an effective-disorder temperature known as the compactivity. Noise sources in a driven granular material couple its various degrees of freedom and the environment, causing the flow of entropy between them. The grain-scale dynamics is described by the shear-transformation-zone (STZ) theory of granular flow, which accounts for irreversible plastic deformation in terms of localized flow defects whose density is governed by the state of configurational disorder. To model the effects of grain shape and frictional characteristics, we propose an Ising-like internal variable to account for nearest-neighbor grain interlocking and geometric frustration, and interpret the effect of friction as an acoustic noise strength. We show quantitative agreement between experimental measurements and theoretical predictions, and propose additional experiments that provide stringent tests on the new theoretical elements.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Theory for Superconducting Properties of the Cuprates: Doping Dependence of the Electronic Excitations and Shadow States

The superconducting phase of the 2D one-band Hubbard model is studied within the FLEX approximation and by using an Eliashberg theory. We investigate the doping dependence of $T_c$, of the gap function $\Delta ({\bf k},\omega)$ and of the effective pairing interaction. Thus we find that $T_c$ becomes maximal for $13 \; \%$ doping. In {\it overdoped} systems $T_c$ decreases due to the weakening of the antiferromagnetic correlations, while in the {\it underdoped} systems due to the decreasing quasi particle lifetimes. Furthermore, we find {\it shadow states} below $T_c$ which affect the electronic excitation spectrum and lead to fine structure in photoemission experiments.Comment: 10 pages (REVTeX) with 5 figures (Postscript

Stick-slip instabilities in sheared granular flow: the role of friction and acoustic vibrations

We propose a theory of shear flow in dense granular materials. A key ingredient of the theory is an effective temperature that determines how the material responds to external driving forces such as shear stresses and vibrations. We show that, within our model, friction between grains produces stick-slip behavior at intermediate shear rates, even if the material is rate-strengthening at larger rates. In addition, externally generated acoustic vibrations alter the stick-slip amplitude, or suppress stick-slip altogether, depending on the pressure and shear rate. We construct a phase diagram that indicates the parameter regimes for which stick-slip occurs in the presence and absence of acoustic vibrations of a fixed amplitude and frequency. These results connect the microscopic physics to macroscopic dynamics, and thus produce useful information about a variety of granular phenomena including rupture and slip along earthquake faults, the remote triggering of instabilities, and the control of friction in material processing.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Microstructural Shear Localization in Plastic Deformation of Amorphous Solids

The shear-transformation-zone (STZ) theory of plastic deformation predicts that sufficiently soft, non-crystalline solids are linearly unstable against forming periodic arrays of microstructural shear bands. A limited nonlinear analysis indicates that this instability may be the mechanism responsible for strain softening in both constant-stress and constant-strain-rate experiments. The analysis presented here pertains only to one-dimensional banding patterns in two-dimensional systems, and only to very low temperatures. It uses the rudimentary form of the STZ theory in which there is only a single kind of zone rather than a distribution of them with a range of transformation rates. Nevertheless, the results are in qualitative agreement with essential features of the available experimental data. The nonlinear theory also implies that harder materials, which do not undergo a microstructural instability, may form isolated shear bands in weak regions or, perhaps, at points of concentrated stress.Comment: 32 pages, 6 figure

Probing the Nature of the Weakest Intergalactic Magnetic Fields with the High Energy Emission of Gamma-Ray Bursts

We investigate the delayed, secondary GeV-TeV emission of gamma-ray bursts and its potential to probe the nature of intergalactic magnetic fields. Geometrical effects are properly taken into account for the time delay between primary high energy photons and secondary inverse Compton photons from electron-positron pairs, which are produced in $\gamma$-$\gamma$ interactions with background radiation fields and deflected by intervening magnetic fields. The time-dependent spectra of the delayed emission are evaluated for a wide range of magnetic field strengths and redshifts. The typical flux and delay time of secondary photons from bursts at $z \sim 1$ are respectively $\sim 10^{-8}$ GeV cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ and $\sim 10^4$ s if the field strengths are $\sim 10^{-18}$ G, as might be the case in intergalactic void regions. We find crucial differences between the cases of coherent and tangled magnetic fields, as well as dependences on the field coherence length.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, formulation revised, accepted for publication in Ap