Related papers: The Critical State and the Steady-State solution i…
A thermodynamic phase transition denotes a drastic change of state of a physical system due to a continuous change of thermodynamic variables, as for instance pressure and temperature. The classical van der Waals equation of state is the…
A granular system confined in a quasi two-dimensional box that is vertically vibrated can transit to an absorbing state in which all particles bounce vertically in phase with the box, with no horizontal motion. In principle, this state can…
The transition between shear-flowing and shear-arrested states of frictional granular matter is studied using constant-stress discrete element simulations. By subjecting a dilute system of frictional grains to a constant external shear…
We present an isothermal fluctuating nonlinear hydrodynamic theory of crystallization in molecular liquids. A dynamic coarse-graining technique is used to derive the velocity field, a phenomenology, which allows a direct coupling between…
The aim of this paper is to calculate the time dependence of the mean position (and orientation) of a fluid particle when a fluid system at thermodynamic equilibrium is submitted to a mechanical action. The starting point of this novel…
Solutions of hydrodynamical equations are presented for an equation of state allowing for a first-order phase transition. The numerical analysis is supplemented by analytical treatment provided the system is close to the critical point. The…
We report on a toy model for the glassy compaction dynamics of granular systems, introduced and investigated in collaboration with Anita Mehta and Peter Stadler. A stochastic dynamics is defined on a column of grains. Grains are anisotropic…
We describe the basic properties and consequences of introducing active stresses, with principal direction along the local director, in cholesteric liquid crystals. The helical ground state is found to be linearly unstable to extensile…
While classical theory of phase transitions deals with systems where shape variation is energetically neutral, the account of rigidity can lead to the emergence of new thermodynamic features. One of them is a special type of critical points…
Mechanical deformation of amorphous solids can be described as consisting of an elastic part in which the stress increases linearly with strain, up to a yield point at which the solid either fractures or starts deforming plastically. It is…
We explore the relation between active Brownian particles, a minimal particle-based model for active matter, and scalar field theories. Both show a liquid-gas-like phase transition towards stable coexistence of a dense liquid with a dilute…
What characterises a solid is its way to respond to external stresses. Ordered solids, such crystals, display an elastic regime followed by a plastic one, both well understood microscopically in terms of lattice distortion and dislocations.…
A continuum description of granular flows would be of considerable help in predicting natural geophysical hazards or in designing industrial processes. However, the constitutive equations for dry granular flows, which govern how the…
A kinetic chemotaxis model with attractive interaction by quasistationary chemical signalling is considered. The special choice of the turning operator, with velocity jumps biased towards the chemical concentration gradient, permits closed…
The glass transition can simply be viewed as the point at which the viscosity of a structurally disordered liquid reaches 10^{13} Poise [1]. This definition is operational but it sidesteps fundamental controversies about the glass: Is the…
We investigate the quasi-static growth of elastic fibers in the presence of dry or viscous friction. An unusual form of destabilization beyond a critical length is described. In order to characterize this phenomenon, a new definition of…
The art of making structural, polymeric and metallic glasses is rapidly developing with many applications. A limitation to their use is their mechanical stability: under increasing external strain all amorphous solids respond elastically to…
The description of a stellar system as a continuous fluid represents a convenient first approximation to stellar dynamics, and its derivation from the kinetic theory is standard. The challenge lies in providing adequate closure…
The dynamics of active smectic liquid crystals confined on a spherical surface is explored through an active phase field crystal model. Starting from an initially randomly perturbed isotropic phase, several types of topological defects are…
Critical properties of the dynamical phase transition in the quenched generalized Bose-Anderson impurity model are studied in the mean-field limit of an infinite number of channels. The transition separates the evolution toward ground state…