Related papers: Rigidity transitions in zero-temperature polygons
Customarily, crystalline solids are defined to be {\em rigid} since they resist changes of shape determined by their boundaries. However, rigid solids cannot exist in the thermodynamic limit where boundaries become irrelevant. Particles in…
The squeezing of soft solids, the constrained growth of biological tissues, and the swelling of soft elastic solids such as gels can generate large compressive stresses at their surfaces. This causes the otherwise smooth surface of such a…
We show how rigidity emerges in experiments of sheared frictional granular materials by using generalizations of two methods for identifying rigid structures. Both approaches, the force-based dynamical matrix and the topology-based rigidity…
When injected through a contraction, high molecular weight polymer solutions exhibit a sharp increase of apparent viscosity which originates from stretching polymer chains above a critical extension rate. This chain stretching can also…
We present theoretical and experimental studies of the elastic response of fibrous networks subjected to uniaxial strain. Uniaxial compression or extension is applied to extracellular networks of fibrin and collagen using a shear rheometer…
Using the Jacobian matrix, we obtain theoretical expression of rigidity and the density of states of two-dimensional amorphous solids consisting of frictional grains in the linear response to an infinitesimal strain, in which we ignore the…
We discuss the nonlinear dynamics and fluctuations of interfaces with bending rigidity under the competing attractions of two walls with arbitrary permeabilities. This system mimics the dynamics of confined membranes. We use a two-dimension…
We investigate the folding and forced-unbinding transitions of adsorbed semiflexible polymer chains using theory and simulations. These processes describe biologically relevant phenomena that include adhesive interactions between proteins…
The statistical mechanics of a ribbon polymer made up of two semiflexible chains is studied using both analytical techniques and simulation. The system is found to have a crossover transition at some finite temperature, from a type of short…
In our common experience, crumpling a sheet requires external compressive force and leads to a random network of folds. However, thin sheets have been theoretically predicted to spontaneously transition from a flat to a crumpled state…
Stress-stress correlations in crystalline solids with long-range order can be straightforwardly derived using elasticity theory. In contrast, the `emergent elasticity' of amorphous solids, rigid materials characterized by an underlying…
We question the network affinity assumption in modeling chain orientations under polymer deformations, and the use of the stretch measure projected from the right Cauchy-Green deformation tensor (or non-affine micro-stretches derived from…
Auxetic materials, or negative-Poisson's-ratio materials, are important technologically and fascinating theoretically. When loaded by external stresses, their internal strains are governed by correlated motion of internal structural degrees…
It is believed that, much like a cat's cradle, the cytoskeleton can be thought of as a network of strings under tension. We show that both regular and random bond-disordered networks having bonds that buckle upon compression exhibit a…
We investigate theoretically the possibility of a wetting transition induced by geometric roughness of a solid substrate for the case where the flat substrate does not show a wetting layer. Our approach makes use of a novel closed-form…
The structure of polymer networks, defined by chain lengths and connectivity patterns, fundamentally influences their bulk properties. While existing polymer network models connect chain properties to emergent network behavior, they are…
A general expression for the strain energy of a homogeneous, isotropic, plane extensible elastica with an arbitrary undeformed configuration is derived. This energy constitutes the correct expression for one-dimensional models of polymers…
Using Langevin dynamics complemented by Wang-Landau Monte Carlo simulations, we study the phase behavior of single and multiple semiflexible polymer chains in solution under poor-solvent conditions. In the case of a single chain, we obtain…
Polymer chains decorated with a fraction of monomers capable of forming reversible bonds form transient polymer networks that are important in soft and biological systems. If chains are flexible and the attractive monomers are all of the…
Using the Fundamental-Measure Density Functional Theory, we have studied theoretically the phase behavior of extremely confined mixtures of parallel hard squares in slit geometry. The pore width is chosen such that configurations consisting…