English

Thermodynamic approach to dense granular matter: a numerical realization of a decisive experiment

Soft Condensed Matter 2007-05-23 v2 Statistical Mechanics

Abstract

Years ago Edwards proposed a thermodynamic description of dense granular matter, in which the grains (the `atoms' of the system) interact with inelastic forces. The approach is intriguing but is not justified from first principles, and hence, in the absence of conclusive tests of its validity, it has not been widely accepted. We perform a numerical experiment with a realistic granular matter model specially conceived to be reproducible in the laboratory. The results strongly support the thermodynamic picture.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0107163,
  title  = {Thermodynamic approach to dense granular matter: a numerical realization of a decisive experiment},
  author = {Hernan A. Makse and Jorge Kurchan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0107163},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

4 pages, 3 figures