Field theory for mechanical criticality in disordered fiber networks
Abstract
Strain-controlled criticality governs the elasticity of jamming and fiber networks. While the upper critical dimension of jamming is believed to be =2, non mean-field exponents are observed in numerical studies of 2D and 3D fiber networks. The origins of this remains unclear. In this study we propose a minimal mean-field model for strain-controlled criticality of fiber networks. We then extend this to a phenomenological field theory, in which non mean-field behavior emerges as a result of the disorder in the network structure. We predict that the upper critical dimension for such systems is =4 using a Gaussian approximation. Moreover, we identify an order parameter for the phase transition, which has been lacking for fiber networks to date.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2310.12383,
title = {Field theory for mechanical criticality in disordered fiber networks},
author = {Sihan Chen and Tomer Markovich and Fred C. MacKintosh},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2310.12383},
year = {2024}
}