Related papers: Self-Organization in a Granular Medium by Internal…
Neural systems process information in a dynamical regime between silence and chaotic dynamics. This has lead to the criticality hypothesis which suggests that neural systems reach such a state by self-organizing towards the critical point…
We present a new model for relaxations in piles of granular material. The relaxations are determined by a stochastic rule which models the effect of friction between the grains. We find power-law distributions for avalanche sizes and…
We measure stability of two-dimensional granular mixtures in a rotating drum and relate grain configurations to stability. For our system, the smaller but smoother grains cluster near the center of the drum, while the larger, rougher grains…
Spontaneous stratification of granular mixtures has been reported by Makse et al. [Nature 386, 379 (1997)] when a mixture of grains differing in size and shape is poured in a quasi-two-dimensional heap. We study this phenomenon using two…
We study a model of ``organized'' criticality, where a single avalanche propagates through an \textit{a priori} static (i.e., organized) sandpile configuration. The latter is chosen according to an i.i.d. distribution from a Borel…
We study experimentally gravity-driven granular discharges of laboratory scale silos, during the initial instants of the discharge. We investigate deformable wall silos around their critical collapse height, as well as rigid wall silos. We…
An X-ray imaging technique is used to probe the stability of 3-dimensional granular packs in a slowly rotating drum. Well before the surface reaches the avalanche angle, we observe intermittent plastic events associated with collective…
In a model of self-organized criticality unstable sites discharge to just one of their neighbors. For constant discharge ratio $\alpha$ and for a certain range of values of the input energy, avalanches are simple branchless P\'olya random…
We introduce a general theoretical scheme for a class of phenomena characterized by an extremal dynamics and quenched disorder. The approach is based on a transformation of the quenched dynamics into a stochastic one with cognitive memory…
We investigate the conditions required for general spin systems with frustration and disorder to display self-organized criticality, a property which so far has been established only for the fully-connected infinite-range…
Granular systems are not always homogeneous and can be composed of grains with very different mechanical properties. To improve our understanding of the behavior of real granular systems, in this experimental study, we compress 2D…
The sun provides an explosive, heavenly example of self-organized criticality. Sudden bursts of intense radiation emanate from rapid rearrangements of the magnetic field network in the corona. Avalanches are triggered by loops of flux that…
Jamming occurs when objects like grains are packed tightly together (e.g. grain silos). It is highly cooperative and can lead to phenomena like earthquakes, traffic jams, etc. In this Letter we point out the paramount importance of the…
When a jet of gas impinges vertically on a granular bed and forms a crater, the grains may be moved by several different mechanisms: viscous erosion, diffused gas eruption, bearing capacity failure, and/or diffusion-driven shearing. The…
Self-organized criticality is a well-established phenomenon, where a system dynamically tunes its structure to operate on the verge of a phase transition. Here, we show that the dynamics inside the self-organized critical state are…
Can the concept of self-organized criticality, exemplified by models such as the sandpile model, be described within the framework of continuous phase transitions? In this paper, we provide extensive numerical evidence supporting an…
Self-organization is a property of dissipative nonlinear processes that are governed by an internal driver and a positive feedback mechanism, which creates regular geometric and/or temporal patterns and decreases the entropy, in contrast to…
Simulations are used to determine the effect of inertia on athermal shear of a two-dimensional binary Lennard-Jones glass. In the quasistatic limit, shear occurs through a series of rapid avalanches. The distribution of avalanches is…
We measure experimentally the rearrangements due to a small localized cyclic displacement applied to a packing of rigid grains under gravity in a 2D geometry. We analyze the evolution of the response to this perturbation by considering the…
A granular instability driven by gravity is studied experimentally and numerically. The instability arises as grains fall in a closed Hele-Shaw cell where a layer of dense granular material is positioned above a layer of air. The initially…