English

Field theory for amorphous solids

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks 2018-09-12 v1 Soft Condensed Matter

Abstract

Glasses at low temperature fluctuate around their inherent states; glassy anomalies reflect the structure of these states. Recently there have been numerous observations of long-range stress correlations in glassy materials, from supercooled liquids to colloids and granular materials, but without a common explanation. Herein it is shown, using a field theory of inherent states, that long-range stress correlations follow from mechanical equilibrium alone, with explicit predictions for stress correlations in 2 and 3 dimensions. `Equations of state' relating fluctuations to imposed stresses are derived, as well as field equations that fix the spatial structure of stresses in arbitrary geometries. Finally, a new holographic quantity in 3D amorphous systems is identified.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1808.01811,
  title  = {Field theory for amorphous solids},
  author = {E. DeGiuli},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1808.01811},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

5 pages. Short version to appear in PRL. Extended version available at arXiv:1804.04834

R2 v1 2026-06-23T03:25:17.872Z