Related papers: Horizontal transport in the bouncing ball system w…
A ball rolled over a shallow step will experience an increase in velocity along the direction perpendicular to the step. This causes a deflection in the ball's trajectory. In this paper we derive the equations that describe the motion of a…
We describe how a simple class of out of equilibrium, rotating and asymmetrical mass distributions evolve under their self-gravity to produce a quasi-planar spiral structure surrounding a virialized core, qualitatively resembling a spiral…
A novel process is described that produces horizontal size segregation in a vertically vibrated layer of granular material. The behavior is a consequence of two distinct phenomena that are unique to excited granular media: vibration which…
The dynamics of a set of rods bouncing on a vertically vibrated plate is investigated using experiments, simulations, and theoretical analysis. The experiments and simulations are performed within an annulus to impose periodic boundary…
We present a robotic table tennis platform that achieves a variety of hit styles and ball-spins with high precision, power, and consistency. This is enabled by a custom lightweight, high-torque, low rotor inertia, five degree-of-freedom arm…
Polygonal billiards exhibit a rich and complex dynamical behavior. In recent years polygonal billiards have attracted great attention due to their application in the understanding of anomalous transport, but also at the fundamental level,…
The Rattleback is a very popular science toy shown to students all over the world to demonstrate the non-triviality of rotational motion. When spun on a horizontal table, this boat-shaped object behaves in a peculiar way. Although the…
A beer bottle or soda can on a table, when slightly tipped and released, falls to an upright position and then rocks up to a somewhat opposite tilt. Superficially this rocking motion involves a collision when the flat circular base of the…
We consider the vertical motion of a free falling ball bouncing elastically on a racket moving in the vertical direction according to a regular periodic function $f$. We give a sufficient condition on the second derivative of $f$ giving…
Experiments on the motion of a particle on an inclined rough plane have yielded some surprising results. For example, it was found that the frictional force acting on the ball is viscous, {\it i.e.} proportional to the velocity rather than…
The transport of slightly deformable chiral objects in a uniform shear flow is investigated. Depending on the equilibrium configuration one finds up to four different asymptotic states that can be distinguished by a lateral drift velocity…
Motion blur reduces the clarity of fast-moving objects, posing challenges for detection systems, especially in racket sports, where balls often appear as streaks rather than distinct points. Existing labeling conventions mark the ball at…
Nonholonomic systems are variational models commonly used for mechanical systems with ideal no-slip constraints. This note provides a differential-geometric derivation of the nonholonomic equations of motion for an arbitrary rigid body…
Polygonal billiards are an example of pseudo-chaotic dynamics, a combination of integrable evolution and sudden jumps due to conical singular points that arise from the corners of the polygons. Such pseudo-chaotic behaviour, often…
A simple model for a granular ratchet corresponding to a single grain bouncing off a vertically vibrating sawtooth-like base is studied. Depending on the vibration strength, the sawtooth roughness and the restitution coefficient, horizontal…
Although one-dimensional systems that exhibit translational symmetry are generally believed to exhibit anomalous heat transport, previous work has shown that the model of coupled rotators on a one-dimensional lattice constitute a possible…
Self-consistent chaotic transport is studied in a Hamiltonian mean-field model. The model provides a simplified description of transport in marginally stable systems including vorticity mixing in strong shear flows and electron dynamics in…
We present theoretical results on the deterministic and stochastic motion of a dumbbell carried by a uniform flow through a three-dimensional spatially periodic potential. Depending on parameters like the flow velocity, there are two…
We simulate vertically shaken dense granular packings with horizontal periodic boundary conditions. A coordinated translating motion of the whole medium emerges when the horizontal symmetry is broken by disorder or defects in the packing…
A vibrational model of transport properties of dense fluids assumes that solid-like oscillations of atoms around their temporary equilibrium positions dominate the dynamical picture. The temporary equilibrium positions of atoms do not form…