Related papers: Crystallization and topology-induced dynamical het…
After rainfall, pine needles often float on the surface of small puddles. As the water evaporates, they self-assemble into distinct clusters. Motivated by this natural phenomenon, we experimentally investigate the dynamic evolution of…
The dynamical glass transition is typically taken to be the temperature at which a glassy liquid is no longer able to equilibrate on experimental timescales. Consequently, the physical properties of these systems just above or below the…
The investigation of collective behaviour in dense assemblies of self-propelled active particles has been motivated by a wide range of biological phenomena. Of particular interest are dynamical transitions of cellular and sub-cellular…
We performed experimental studies of the effect of humidity on the dynamics of electrostatically-driven granular materials. Both conducting and dielectric particles undergo a phase transition from an immobile state (granular solid) to a…
We present high resolution ($1024^3$) simulations of super-/hyper-sonic isothermal hydrodynamic turbulence inside an interstellar molecular cloud (resolving scales of typically 20 -- 100 AU), including a multi-disperse population of dust…
We investigate the ordering properties of vertically-vibrated monolayers of granular cylinders in a circular container at high packing fraction. In line with previous works by other groups, we identify liquid-crystalline ordering behaviour…
Understanding the mechanical instabilities of two-dimensional membranes has strong connection to the subjects of structure instabilities, morphology control and materials failures. In this work, we investigate the plastic mechanism…
Natural active systems routinely reshape and reorganize their environments through sustained local interactions. Examples of decentralized collective construction are common in nature, e.g., many insects achieve large-scale constructions…
We study the responses of fluid-immersed soft hydrogel spheres that are sheared under controlled volume fractions. Slippery, deformable particles along with the density-matched interstitial fluid are sandwiched between two opposing rough…
This article concerns the correspondence between thermodynamics and the morphology of simple fluids in terms of clusters. Definitions of clusters providing a geometric interpretation of the liquid-gas phase transition are reviewed with an…
Morphogenesis emerges from dynamic feedback among geometry, mechanics, and chemistry; however, disentangling these contributions in living systems remains challenging. Here, we focus on the interplay between geometry and mechanics by…
Protein aggregation in cell membrane is vital for the majority of biological functions. Recent experimental results suggest that transmembrane domains of proteins such as $\alpha$-helices and $\beta$-sheets have different structural…
We systematically explore the self-assembly of semi-flexible polymers in deformable spherical confinement across a wide regime of chain stiffness, contour lengths and packing fractions by means of coarse-grained molecular dynamics…
Cell migration is important in many biological processes, including embryonic development, cancer metastasis, and wound healing. In these tissues, a cell's motion is often strongly constrained by its neighbors, leading to glassy dynamics.…
Theoretical challenges in understanding the nature of glass and the glass transition remain significant open questions in statistical and condensed matter physics. As a prototypical example of complex physical systems, glasses and the…
In this paper, we recall various features of non equilibrium granular systems. Clusters with specific properties are found depending on the packing density, going from loose (a granular gas) to sintered (though brittle) polycrystalline…
We present a numerical study of a two dimensional granular medium consisting of hard inelastic disks. The evolution of the medium throughout a cooling process is monitored. Two different types of instabilities (shearing and clustering…
Soft materials with layered structure such as membranes, block copolymers, and smectics exhibit intriguing morphologies with nontrivial curvatures. We report on restructuring the Gaussian and mean curvatures of smectic A films with free…
We describe a series of experiments and computer simulations on vibrated granular media in a geometry chosen to eliminate gravitationally induced settling. The system consists of a collection of identical spherical particles on a horizontal…
Granular materials such as sand, powders, foams etc. are ubiquitous in our daily life, as well as in industrial and geotechnical applications. Although these disordered systems form stable structures if unperturbed, in practice they do…