Related papers: Perspectives on opportunities in experimental soft…
Unlike molecular crystals, soft self-assembled fibres, micelles, vesicles, etc., exhibit a certain order in the arrangement of their constitutive monomers, but also high structural dynamicity and variability. Defects and disordered local…
A smooth unclustered dark matter component with negative presure could reconcile a flat universe with the many observations that find a density in ordinary, clustered matter well below the critical density and also explain the recent high…
The design of complex materials and the formation of specific patterns often arise from the properties of the individual building blocks. In this respect, colloidal systems offer a unique opportunity because nowadays they can be synthesized…
It is common in the study of a dizzying array of soft matter systems to perform agent-based simulations of particles interacting via conservative and often short-ranged forces. In this context, well-established algorithms for efficiently…
The ability of soft matter such as drops and bubbles to change shape dynamically during interaction can give rise to counter-intuitive behaviour that may be expected of rigid materials. Here we show that dimple formation on approach and the…
The standard model of particle physics is marvelously successful. However, it is obviously not a complete or final theory. I shall argue here that the structure of the standard model gives some quite concrete, compelling hints regarding…
Dark matter is a vital component of the current best model of our universe, $\Lambda$CDM. There are leading candidates for what the dark matter could be (e.g. weakly-interacting massive particles, or axions), but no compelling observational…
Despite significant experimental sensitivity to point-like, weakly interacting particles at the electroweak mass scale, dark matter has not been found yet. This could hint at a more complex dark sector with multiple states or composite dark…
Dark matter is a fundamental constituent of the universe, which is needed to explain a wide variety of astrophysical and cosmological observations. Although the existence of dark matter was first postulated nearly a century ago and its…
Soft polymer-based solid materials can be defined as solid materials with elastic moduli below 1 MPa. In order to obtain such a low modulus while retaining a solid character, all these materials are based on a network of fixed points…
Extension of particle symmetry implies new conserved charges and the lightest particles, possessing such charges, should be stable. Created in early Universe, stable charged heavy leptons and quarks can exist and, hidden in elusive atoms…
The fracture of highly deformable soft materials is of great practical importance in a wide range of technological applications, emerging in fields such as soft robotics, stretchable electronics and tissue engineering. From a basic physics…
Motivated by recent experiments on colloidal systems with competing attractive and repulsive interactions, we simulate a two-dimensional system of colloids with competing interactions that can undergo fragmentation. In the absence of any…
Many of the most exciting materials discoveries in fundamental condensed matter physics are made in systems hosting some degree of intrinsic disorder. While disorder has historically been regarded as something to be avoided in materials…
In a recent paper (arXiv:1106.4546), we introduced "dynamical dark matter," a new framework for dark-matter physics, and outlined its underlying theoretical principles and phenomenological possibilities. Unlike most traditional approaches…
Amorphous materials as diverse as foams, emulsions, colloidal suspensions and granular media can jam into a rigid, disordered state where they withstand finite shear stresses before yielding. Here we review the current understanding of the…
Traditional robots have rigid links and structures that limit their ability to interact with the dynamics of their immediate environment. For example, conventional robot manipulators with rigid links can only manipulate objects using…
From the pragmatic to the symbolic, textiles play a prominent role in some of the most demanding yet ubiquitous scenarios, such as covering the complex and dynamic geometries of the human body. Textiles are made by repeated manipulations of…
Geometric frustration offers a pathway to soft matter self-assembly with controllable finite sizes. While the understanding of frustration in soft matter assembly derives almost exclusively from continuum elastic descriptions, a current…
Living organisms intertwine soft (e.g., muscle) and hard (e.g., bones) materials, giving them an intrinsic flexibility and resiliency often lacking in conventional rigid robots. The emerging field of soft robotics seeks to harness these…