Related papers: Moir\'e-pattern evolution couples rotational and t…
A wide variety of interacting particle assemblies driven by an external force are characterized by a transition between a blocked and a moving phase. The origin of this deblocking transition can be traced back to the presence of either…
We report a combined experimental and simulation study of deformation-induced diffusion in compacted two-dimensional amorphous granular pillars, in which thermal fluctuations play negligible role. The pillars, consisting of bidisperse…
We report on the translation and rotation of particle clusters made through the combination of spherical building blocks. These clusters present ideal model systems to study the motion of objects with complex shape. Because they could be…
The transport on top of a periodic two-dimensional hexagonal magnetic pattern of (i) a single macroscopic steel sphere, (ii) a doublet of wax/magnetite composite spheres, and (iii) an immiscible mixture of ferrofluid droplets with a…
We analyze the frictionless motion of a point-like particle that slides under gravity on an inverted conical surface. This motion is studied for arbitrary initial conditions and a general relation, valid within 13%, between the periods of…
Moir\'e superstructures arising at twisted 2D interfaces have recently attracted the attention of the scientific community due to exotic quantum states and unique mechanical and tribological behaviors that they exhibit. Here, we predict the…
In many shear- and pressure-driven wall-bounded turbulent flows secondary motions spontaneously develop and their interaction with the main flow alters the overall large-scale features and transfer properties. Taylor-Couette flow, the fluid…
We review the depinning and nonequilibrium phases of collectively interacting particle systems driven over random or periodic substrates. This type of system is relevant to vortices in type-II superconductors, sliding charge density waves,…
In systems possessing spatial or dynamical symmetry breaking, Brownian motion combined with symmetric external input signals, deterministic or random, alike, can assist directed motion of particles at the submicron scales. In such cases,…
Two-dimensional colloidal suspensions exposed to periodic external fields exhibit a variety of molecular crystalline phases. There two or more colloids assemble at lattice sites of potential minima to build new structural entities, referred…
The universality class of the avalanche behavior in plastically deforming crystalline and amorphous systems has been commonly discussed, despite the fact that the microscopic defect character in each of these systems is different. In…
Mound formation on flat and miscut crystal surfaces exhibits distinct growth behaviors. While mound structures are the predominant feature on flat surfaces, miscut surfaces display a smooth transition from meandered patterns to…
Diffusion-driven patterns appear on curved surfaces in many settings, initiated by unstable modes of an underlying Laplacian operator. On a flat surface or perfect sphere, the patterns are degenerate, reflecting translational/rotational…
We present the results of a set of N-body simulations following the long-term evolution of the rotational properties of star cluster models evolving in the external tidal field of their host galaxy, after an initial phase of violent…
At a macroscopic level, concepts such as top spin, back spin and rolling are commonly used to describe the collision of balls and surfaces. Each term refers to an aspect of the coupling of rotational motion during the collision of a…
The goal of this PhD thesis was to characterize the properties of friction in nanotubes and from a more general point of view the understanding of the microscopic origin of friction. Indeed, the relative simplicity of the system allows us…
There has been remarkable recent progress in the formation of nano-resonators that support ultra-low-loss, compact dielectric photonic crystals with exceptional high-Q modes that operate at visible or telecom wavelengths. New insights into…
The plasticity transition at the yield strength of a crystal typically signifies the tendency of dislocation defects towards relatively unrestricted motion. For an isolated dislocation the motion is in the slip plane with velocity…
A new approach to Brownian motion of atomic clusters on solid surfaces is developed. The main topic discussed is the dependence of the diffusion coefficient on the fit between the surface static potential and the internal cluster…
Following recent evidence that the vortices in decaying two-dimensional turbulence can be classified into small--mobile, and large--quasi-stationary, this paper examines the evidence that the latter might be considered a `crystal' whose…