Related papers: Two-dimensional melting far from equilibrium in a …
Melting in two-dimensional systems has remained controversial as theory, simulations, and experiments show contrasting results. One issue that obscures this discussion is whether or not theoretical predictions on strictly 2D systems…
We have studied, using molecular dynamics simulations, the pressure-induced melting in a monolayer of soft repulsive spherocylinders whose centers of mass are constrained to move on the surface of a sphere. We show that the orientational…
We describe an experimental and computational investigation of the ordered and disordered phases of a vibrating thin, dense granular layer composed of identical metal spheres. We compare the results from spheres with different amounts of…
We report an experimental study on the transition between a disordered liquid-like state and a ordered solid-like one, in a collection of magnetically interacting macroscopic grains. A monolayer of magnetized particles is vibrated…
We study 2D solids with weak substrate disorder, using Coulomb gas renormalisation. The melting transition is found to be replaced by a sharp crossover between a high $T$ liquid with thermally induced dislocations, and a low $T$ glassy…
Steady state dynamics of clustering, long range order, and inelastic collapse are experimentally observed in vertically shaken granular monolayers. At large vibration amplitudes, particle correlations show only short range order like…
We report the observation of the transition from an ordered solid-like phase to a disordered liquid-like phase of a lattice of spikes on a ferrofluid surface submitted to horizontal sinusoidal vibrations. The melting transition occurs for a…
From pressure and surface dilation measurements, we show that a solid-liquid-type transition occurs at low excitation frequencies in vertically vibrated granular layers. This transition precedes subharmonic bifurcations from flat surface to…
We investigate the dynamics of an ensemble of inelastic hard spheres confined between two horizontal plates separated a distance smaller than twice the diameter of the particles, in such a way that the system is quasi-two-dimensional. The…
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…
We present experimental evidence for a first-order freezing/melting phase transition in a nonequilibrium system -- an oscillated two-dimensional isobaric granular fluid. The steady-state transition occurs between a gas and a crystal and is…
Recent studies of melting in hard disks have confirmed the existence of a hexatic phase occurring in a narrow window of density which is separated from the isotropic liquid phase by a first-order transition, and from the solid phase by a…
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…
Starting from an ideal crystalline state, we numerically study a nonequilibrium dynamical order- disorder transition promoted by the application of a periodic shearing protocol at low temperatures in model systems in two and three…
We investigate by Molecular Dynamics simulation a system of $N$ particles moving on the surface of a two-dimensional sphere and interacting by a Lennard-Jones potential. We detail the way to account for the changes brought by a nonzero…
We study the order-disorder transition of horizontally swirled dry and wet granular disks by means of computer simulations. Our systematic investigation of the local order formation as a function of amplitude and period of the external…
Recent experimental and computational studies of vibrated thin layers of identical spheres have shown transitions to ordered phases similar to those seen in equilibrium systems. Motivated by these results, we carry out simulations of hard…
We present results of a simulation study of inelastic hard-disks vibrated in a vertical container. An Event-Driven Molecular Dynamics method is developed for studying the onset of convection. Varying the relevant parameters (inelasticity,…
We investigate experimentally the collective behavior of a wet granular monolayer under vertical vibrations. The spherical particles are partially wet such that there are short-ranged attractive interactions between adjacent particles. As…
Phase transformations can be difficult to characterize at the microscopic level due to the inability to directly observe individual atomic motions. Model colloidal systems, by contrast, permit the direct observation of individual particle…