A random matrix definition of the boson peak

The density of vibrational states for glasses and jammed solids exhibits universal features, including an excess of modes above the Debye prediction known as the boson peak located at a frequency $\omega^*$ . We show that the eigenvector statistics for boson peak modes are universal, and develop a new definition of the boson peak based on this universality that displays the previously observed characteristic scaling $\omega^*\sim p^{-1/2}$ . We identify a large new class of random matrices that obey a generalized global tranlational invariance constraint and demonstrate that members of this class also have a boson peak with precisely the same universal eigenvector statistics. We denote this class as boson peak random matrices, and conjecture it comprises a new universality class. We characterize the eigenvector statistics as a function of coordination number, and find that one member of this new class reproduces the scaling of $\omega^{*}$ with coordination number that is observed near the jamming transition.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Supplementary Figures available at https://mmanning.expressions.syr.edu/epl2015

Motility-driven glass and jamming transitions in biological tissues

Cell motion inside dense tissues governs many biological processes, including embryonic development and cancer metastasis, and recent experiments suggest that these tissues exhibit collective glassy behavior. To make quantitative predictions about glass transitions in tissues, we study a self-propelled Voronoi (SPV) model that simultaneously captures polarized cell motility and multi-body cell-cell interactions in a confluent tissue, where there are no gaps between cells. We demonstrate that the model exhibits a jamming transition from a solid-like state to a fluid-like state that is controlled by three parameters: the single-cell motile speed, the persistence time of single-cell tracks, and a target shape index that characterizes the competition between cell-cell adhesion and cortical tension. In contrast to traditional particulate glasses, we are able to identify an experimentally accessible structural order parameter that specifies the entire jamming surface as a function of model parameters. We demonstrate that a continuum Soft Glassy Rheology model precisely captures this transition in the limit of small persistence times, and explain how it fails in the limit of large persistence times. These results provide a framework for understanding the collective solid-to-liquid transitions that have been observed in embryonic development and cancer progression, which may be associated with Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal transition in these tissues.Comment: accepted for publication in Physical Review X, 201