Related papers: Vibrations of amorphous, nanometric structures: Wh…
This paper presents a set of general strategies for the analysis of structure in amorphous materials and a general approach to assessing the utility of a selected structural description. Measures of structural diversity and utility are…
The mechanical response of naturally abundant amorphous solids such as gels, jammed grains, and biological tissues are not described by the conventional paradigm of broken symmetry that defines crystalline elasticity. In contrast, the…
We use particle dynamics simulations to probe the correlations between noise and dynamics in a variety of disordered systems, including superconducting vortices, 2D electron liquid crystals, colloids, domain walls, and granular media. The…
Understanding, predicting and eventually improving the resistance to fracture of silicate materials is of primary importance to design new glasses that would be tougher, while retaining their transparency. However, the atomic mechanism of…
The low-temperature thermal properties of dielectric crystals are governed by acoustic excitations with large wavelengths that are well described by plane waves. This is the Debye model, which rests on the assumption that the medium is an…
Jammed packings' mechanical properties depend sensitively on their detailed local structure. Here we provide a complete characterization of the pair correlation close to contact and of the force distribution of jammed frictionless spheres.…
Amorphous solids, confined on the nano-scale, exhibit a wealth of novel phenomena yet to be explored. In particular, the response of such solids to a mechanical load is not well understood and, as has been demonstrated experimentally, it…
The transport properties of a suspended carbon nanotube probed by means of a STM tip are investigated. A microscopic theory of the coupling between electrons and mechanical vibrations is developed. It predicts a position-dependent coupling…
The presence of nanoparticles in a diblock copolymer leads to changes in the morphology and properties of the matrix and can produce highly organized hybrid materials. The resulting material properties depend not only on the polymer…
There have been some interesting recent advances in understanding the notion of mechanical disorder in structural glasses and the statistical mechanics of these systems' low-energy excitations. Here we contribute to these advances by…
Understanding nanomechanical response of materials represents a scientific challenge. Here, we have used in-situ electron microscopy to reveal drastic for the first time changes of structural behavior during deformation of 1-nm-wide metal…
We report experimental results on the behavior of an ensemble of inelastically colliding particles, excited by a vibrated piston in a vertical cylinder. When the particle number is increased, we observe a transition from a regime where the…
Spatial confinement in nanoporous media affects the structure, thermodynamics and mobility of molecular soft matter often markedly. This article reviews thermodynamic equilibrium phenomena, such as physisorption, capillary condensation,…
We investigate the emergence of the continuum elastic limit from the atomistic description of matter at zero temperature considering how locally defined elastic quantities depend on the coarse graining length scale. Results obtained…
Crystals and quasicrystals can be characterized by an order that is a purely geometric property of an instantaneous configuration, independent of particle dynamics or interactions. Glasses, on the other hand, are ostensibly amorphous…
An increasing variety of crystal structures has been observed in soft condensed matter over the past two decades, surpassing most expectations for the diversity of arrangements accessible through classical driving forces. Here, we survey…
Aequous dielectrics are ubiquitous in soft- and bio-nano matter systems. The theoretical description of such systems in terms of continuum (`macroscopic') theory remains a serious challenge. In this perspective we first review the existing…
We perform molecular dynamic simulations of liquid nanoparticles deposited on a disordered substrate. The motion of the nanoparticle is characterised by a 'stick and roll' diffusive process. Long simulation times ($\simeq \mu s$), analysis…
Nanometer-sized columns of condensed water molecules are created by an atomic-resolution force microscope operated in ambient conditions. Unusual stepwise decrease of the force gradient associated with the thin water bridge in the…
Glasses are structurally liquid-like, but mechanically solid-like. Most attempts to understand glasses start from liquid state theory. Here we take the opposite point of view, and use concepts from solid state physics. We determine the…