Da Vinci Fluids, catch-up dynamics and dense granular flow

We introduce and study a da Vinci Fluid, a fluid whose dissipation is dominated by solid friction. We analyse the flow rheology of a discrete model and then coarse-grain it to the continuum. We find that the model gives rise to behaviour that is characteristic of dense granular fluids. In particular, it leads to plug flow. We analyse the nucleation mechanism of plugs and their development. We find that plug boundaries generically expand and we calculate the growth rate of plug regions. In systems whose internal effective friction coefficient is relatively uniform we find that the linear size of plug regions grows as (time)$^{1/3}$. The suitability of the model to granular materials is discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, edited for clarifications and added reference

Fractional electric charge and quark confinement

Owing to their fractional electric charges, quarks are blind to transformations that combine a color center phase with an appropriate electromagnetic one. Such transformations are part of a global $Z_6$-like center symmetry of the Standard Model that is lost when quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is treated as an isolated theory. This symmetry and the corresponding topological defects may be relevant to non-perturbative phenomena such as quark confinement, much like center symmetry and ordinary center vortices are in pure SU($N$) gauge theories. Here we report on our investigations of an analogous symmetry in a 2-color model with dynamical Wilson quarks carrying half-integer electric charge.Comment: Conference proceedings for the XXIX International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 201

Inter-dependence of the volume and stress ensembles and equipartition in statistical mechanics of granular systems

We discuss the statistical mechanics of granular matter and derive several significant results. First, we show that, contrary to common belief, the volume and stress ensembles are inter-dependent, necessitating the use of both. We use the combined ensemble to calculate explicitly expectation values of structural and stress-related quantities for two-dimensional systems. We thence demonstrate that structural properties may depend on the angoricity tensor and that stress-based quantities may depend on the compactivity. This calls into question previous statistical mechanical analyses of static granular systems and related derivations of expectation values. Second, we establish the existence of an intriguing equipartition principle - the total volume is shared equally amongst both structural and stress-related degrees of freedom. Third, we derive an expression for the compactivity that makes it possible to quantify it from macroscopic measurements.Comment: 5 pages, including 2 figures, To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Torus counting and self-joinings of Kleinian groups

For any $d\geq 1$, we obtain counting and equidistribution results for tori with small volume for a class of $d$-dimensional torus packings, invariant under a self-joining $\Gamma_\rho<\prod_{i=1}^d\mathrm{PSL}_2(\mathbb{C})$ of a Kleinian group $\Gamma$ formed by a $d$-tuple of convex cocompact representations $\rho=(\rho_1, \cdots, \rho_d)$. More precisely, if $\mathcal P$ is a $\Gamma_\rho$-admissible $d$-dimensional torus packing, then for any bounded subset $E\subset \mathbb{C}^d$ with $\partial E$ contained in a proper real algebraic subvariety, we have $$\lim_{s\to 0} { s^{\delta_{L^1}({\rho}) }} \cdot \#\{T\in \mathcal{P}: \mathrm{Vol} (T)> s,\, T\cap E\neq \emptyset \}= c_{\mathcal P}\cdot \omega_{\rho} (E\cap \Lambda_\rho).$$ Here $0<\delta_{L^1}(\rho)\le 2/\sqrt d$ is the critical exponent of $\Gamma_\rho$ with respect to the $L^1$-metric on the product $\prod_{i=1}^d \mathbb{H}^3$, $\Lambda_\rho\subset (\mathbb{C}\cup\{\infty\})^d$ is the limit set of $\Gamma_\rho$, and $\omega_{\rho}$ is a locally finite Borel measure on $\mathbb{C}^d\cap \Lambda_\rho$ which can be explicitly described. The class of admissible torus packings we consider arises naturally from the Teichm\"{u}ller theory of Kleinian groups. Our work extends previous results of Oh-Shah on circle packings (i.e. one-dimensional torus packings) to $d$-torus packings.Comment: 36 pages, 2 figures, To appear in Crelle's journa