Related papers: Phase Transitions in Granular Packings
We present results from an extensive experimental investigation into granular segregation of a shallow binary mixture in which particles are driven by frictional interactions with the surface of a vibrating horizontal tray. Three distinct…
We consider a Potts model diluted by fully frustrated Ising spins. The model corresponds to a fully frustrated Potts model with variables having an integer absolute value and a sign. This model presents precursor phenomena of a glass…
Using three-dimensional representation of confluent cell layers, we map the amorphous solid to fluid phase transition in active cell layers onto the two-dimensional (2D) site percolation universality class. Importantly, we unify two…
In very anisotropic layered superconductors (e.g. Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_x$) a tilted magnetic field can penetrate as two co-existing lattices of vortices parallel and perpendicular to the layers. At low out-of-plane fields the…
In this talk I discuss three main topics concerning the theoretical description and observable signatures of possible phase transitions in nuclear collisions. The first one is related to the multifragmentation of thermalized sources and its…
The set of solutions of random constraint satisfaction problems (zero energy groundstates of mean-field diluted spin glasses) undergoes several structural phase transitions as the amount of constraints is increased. This set first breaks…
Phase transitions of a flux lattice in layered superconductors with magnetic field perpendicular to the layers and in presence of disorder are studied. We find that the Josephson coupling between layers leads to a strongly pinned Josephson…
We discuss the interrelation between phase transitions in interacting lattice or continuum models, and the existence of infinite clusters in suitable random-graph models. In particular, we describe a random-geometric approach to the phase…
In an effort to understand the glass transition, the kinetics of a spin model with frustration but no quenched randomness has been analyzed. The phenomenology of the spin model is remarkably similiar to that of structural glasses. Analysis…
Using transfer matrix and finite-size scaling methods, we study the thermodynamic behavior of a lattice gas with two kinds of particles on the square lattice. Only excluded volume interactions are considered, so that the model is athermal.…
We study a lattice-gas model of penetrable particles on a square-lattice substrate with same-site and nearest-neighbor interactions. Penetrability implies that the number of particles occupying a single lattice site is unlimited and the…
The determination of phase behavior and, in particular, the nature of phase transitions in two-dimensional systems is often clouded by finite size effects and by access to the appropriate thermodynamic regime. We address these issues using…
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…
Nucleation in systems with a metastable liquid-gas critical point is the prototypical example of a two-step nucleation process, in which the appearance of the critical nucleus is preceded by the formation of a liquid-like density…
We review a few representative examples of granular experiments or models where phase separation, accompanied by domain coarsening, is a relevant phenomenon. We first elucidate the intrinsic non-equilibrium, or athermal, nature of granular…
Glasses and gels are the two dynamically arrested, disordered states of matter. Despite their importance, their similarities and differences remain elusive, especially at high density. We identify dynamical and structural signatures which…
Experiments are conducted in a two-dimensional mono-layer vibrofluidized bed of glass beads, with a goal to understand the transition scenario and the underlying microstructure and dynamics in different patterned-states. At small shaking…
Three 2D spin models made of frustrated zig-zag chains with competing interactions which by exact summation with respect to some degrees of freedom can be replaced by an effective temperature-dependent interaction were considered. The first…
Using a modified Lennard-Jones model for elliptic particles and spherical impurities, we present results of molecular dynamics simulation in two dimensions. In one-component systems of elliptic particles, we find an orientation phase…
A novel effect in a granular material under swirling motion of the container is presented. At low packing densities the material rotates in the same direction as the swirling motion of the container (rotation). At higher densities the…