Non-equilibrium two-phase coexistence in a confined granular layer
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-11-10 v3 Statistical Mechanics
Abstract
We report the observation of the homogenous nucleation of crystals in a dense layer of steel spheres confined between two horizontal plates vibrated vertically. Above a critical vibration amplitude, two-layer crystals with square symmetry were found to coexist in steady state with a surrounding granular liquid. By analogy to equilibrium hard sphere systems, the phase behavior can be explained through entropy maximization. However, dramatic non-equilibrium effects are present, including a significant difference in the granular temperatures of the two phases.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0312232,
title = {Non-equilibrium two-phase coexistence in a confined granular layer},
author = {Alexis Prevost and Paul Melby and David A. Egolf and Jeffrey S. Urbach},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0312232},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 3 figures, RevTex4 format