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The primary distinction between solid and liquid phases is mechanical rigidity, with liquids having a disordered atomic structure that allows flow. While melting is a common phase transition, its microscopic mechanisms still remain unclear.…
We numerically examine the dynamic phases and pattern formation of two-dimensional monodisperse repulsive disks driven over random quenched disorder. We show that there is a series of distinct dynamic regimes as a function of increasing…
Thin solids often develop elastic instabilities and subsequently complex, multiscale deformation patterns. Revealing the organizing principles of this spatial complexity has ramifications for our understanding of morphogenetic processes in…
We investigate the response of a system of hard spheres to two classes of perturbations over a range of densities spanning the fluid, crystalline, and glassy regimes within a molecular dynamics framework. Firstly, we consider the relaxation…
A laser focussed onto a semiconductor film can create a disordered lamellae pattern of coexisting molten-solid regions. We present a continuum model based on the higher reflectivity of the molten regions. For large latent heat, this model…
Dynamical heterogeneities in a colloidal fluid close to gelation are studied by means of computer simulations. A clear distinction between some fast particles and the rest, slow ones, is observed, yielding a picture of the gel composed by…
Hyperuniform states are an efficient way to fill up space for disordered systems. In these states the particle distribution is disordered at the short scale but becomes increasingly uniform when looked at large scales. Hyperuniformity…
We analyze the fluctuations in particle positions and inter-particle forces in disordered jammed crystals in the limit of weak disorder. We demonstrate that such athermal systems are fundamentally different from their thermal counterparts,…
Point defects are ubiquitous in two dimensional crystals and play a fundamental role in determining their mechanical and thermodynamical properties. When crystals are formed on a curved background, finite length grain boundaries (scars) are…
In this review, we study some aspects of the non-equilibrium dynamics of quantum systems. In particular, we consider the effect of varying a parameter in the Hamiltonian of a quantum system which takes it across a quantum critical point or…
The fact that a disordered material is not constrained in its properties in the same way as a crystal presents significant and yet largely untapped potential for novel material design. However, unlike their crystalline counterparts,…
Supersolids are states of matter that spontaneously break two continuous symmetries: translational invariance due to the appearance of a crystal structure and phase invariance due to phase locking of single-particle wave functions,…
Using Brownian dynamics computer simulations we show that a two-dimensional suspension of self-propelled ("active") colloidal particles crystallizes at sufficiently high densities. Compared to the equilibrium freezing of passive particles…
We study the effects of distinct types of quenched disorder in the contact process (CP) with a competitive dynamics on bipartite sublattices. In the model, the particle creation depends on its first and second neighbors and the extinction…
The complex physics of self-assembly in colloidal crystals on deformable interfaces and surfaces poses interesting possibilities for the designability and synthesis of next-generation metamaterials. The goal of this article is to…
Solids produced as a result of a fast quench across a freezing or a structural transition get stuck in long-lived metastable configurations of distinct morphology, sensitively dependent on the processing history. {\it Martensites} are…
The patterns arising from the differential swelling of gels are investigated experimentally and theoretically as a model for the differential growth of living tissues. Two geometries are considered: a thin strip of soft gel clamped to a…
Recent imaging experiments show a surprisingly robust regime of liquid-solid phase coexistence in a 2D electron system near the quantum melting/freezing transition, with the two phases mixed in mesoscopic domains. Strikingly, the…
We study the mechanical buckling of a two dimensional membrane coated with a thin layer of superfluid. It is seen that a singularity (vortex or anti-vortex defect) in the phase of the quantum order parameter, distorts the membrane metric…
Living and engineered systems rely on the stable coexistence of two interspersed liquid phases. Yet surface tension drives their complete separation. Here we show that stable droplets of uniform and tuneable size can be produced through…