105 research outputs found
Shear banding of colloidal glasses - a dynamic first order transition?
We demonstrate that application of an increasing shear field on a glass leads
to an intriguing dynamic first order transition in analogy to equilibrium
transitions. By following the particle dynamics as a function of the driving
field in a colloidal glass, we identify a critical shear rate upon which the
diffusion time scale of the glass exhibits a sudden discontinuity. Using a new
dynamic order parameter, we show that this discontinuity is analogous to a
first order transition, in which the applied stress acts as the conjugate field
on the system's dynamic evolution. These results offer new perspectives to
comprehend the generic shear banding instability of a wide range of amorphous
materials.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Single particle fluctuations and directional correlations in driven hard sphere glasses
Via event driven molecular dynamics simulations and experiments, we study the
packing fraction and shear-rate dependence of single particle fluctuations and
dynamic correlations in hard sphere glasses under shear. At packing fractions
above the glass transition, correlations increase as shear rate decreases: the
exponential tail in the distribution of single particle jumps broadens and
dynamic four-point correlations increase. Interestingly, however, upon
decreasing the packing fraction, a broadening of the exponential tail is also
observed, while dynamic heterogeneity is shown to decrease. An explanation for
this behavior is proposed in terms of a competition between shear and thermal
fluctuations. Building upon our previous studies [Chikkadi et al, Europhys.
Lett. (2012)], we further address the issue of anisotropy of the dynamic
correlations.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure
Density of states of colloidal glasses
Glasses are structurally liquid-like, but mechanically solid-like. Most
attempts to understand glasses start from liquid state theory. Here we take the
opposite point of view, and use concepts from solid state physics. We determine
the vibrational modes of a colloidal glass experimentally, and find soft
low-frequency modes that are very different in nature from the usual acoustic
vibrations of ordinary solids. These modes extend over surprisingly large
length scales
Connecting Structural Relaxation with the Low Frequency Modes in a Hard-Sphere Colloidal Glass
Structural relaxation in hard-sphere colloidal glasses has been studied using
confocal microscopy. The motion of individual particles is followed over long
time scales to detect the rearranging regions in the system. We have used
normal mode analysis to understand the origin of the rearranging regions. The
low frequency modes, obtained over short time scales, show strong spatial
correlation with the rearrangements that happen on long time scales.Comment: Accepted in Phys. Rev. Let
Emergent vortices in populations of colloidal rollers
Coherent vortical motion has been reported in a wide variety of populations
including living organisms (bacteria, fishes, human crowds) and synthetic
active matter (shaken grains, mixtures of biopolymers), yet a unified
description of the formation and structure of this pattern remains lacking.
Here we report the self-organization of motile colloids into a macroscopic
steadily rotating vortex. Combining physical experiments and numerical
simulations, we elucidate this collective behavior. We demonstrate that the
emergent-vortex structure lives on the verge of a phase separation, and single
out the very constituents responsible for this state of polar active matter.
Building on this observation, we establish a continuum theory and lay out a
strong foundation for the description of vortical collective motion in a broad
class of motile populations constrained by geometrical boundaries
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