Related papers: On micro-bead mechanics with actin filaments
We assess the validity of "microscopic" approaches of glass-forming liquids based on the sole k nowledge of the static pair density correlations. To do so we apply them to a benchmark provided by two liquid models that share very similar…
We simulate an experiment in which a colloidal probe is pulled through an active nematic fluid. We find that the drag on the particle is non-Stokesian (not proportional to its radius). Strikingly, a large enough particle in contractile…
Continuum models of active nematic gels have proved successful to describe a number of biological systems consisting of a population of rodlike motile subunits in a fluid environment. However, in order to get a thorough understanding of the…
We set up an original apparatus to measure the grain grain friction stress inside a granular medium composed of sodo-silicate-glass beads surrounded by a water vapor atmosphere.We analyze here the influence of the physico chemistry of water…
In this article, we study the spreading of droplets of density-matched granular suspensions on the surface of a solid. Bidispersity of the particle size distribution enriches the conclusions drawn from monodisperse experiments by…
Atomistic deformation simulations in the nominally elastic regime are performed for a model binary glass with strain rates as low as $10^{4}$/sec (corresponding to 0.01 shear strain per 1$\mu$sec). A robust elasticity is revealed that…
Weakly attractive interactions between the tips of rod-like colloidal particles affect their liquid-crystal phase behaviour due to a subtle interplay between enthalpy and entropy. Here, we employ molecular dynamics simulations on…
Semiflexible polymers such as filamentous actin play a vital role in the mechanical behavior of cells, yet the basic properties of cross-linked F-actin networks remain poorly understood. To address this issue, we have performed numerical…
We study theoretically the capturing of paramagnetic beads by a magnetic field gradient in a microfluidic channel treating the beads as a continuum. Bead motion is affected by both fluidic and magnetic forces. The transfer of momentum from…
We study the buckling of an idealized, semiflexible filament along whose contour magnetic moments are placed. {We give analytic expressions for the critical stiffness of the filament below which it buckles due to the magnetic compression.…
Recent experiments and simulations have demonstrated that particle-covered interfaces can exist in stable non-spherical shapes as a result of the steric jamming of the interfacially trapped particles, which confers the interface with…
We present molecular dynamics simulations on the slow dynamics of a mixture of big and small soft-spheres with a large size disparity. Dynamics are investigated in a broad range of temperature and mixture composition. As a consequence of…
The stability of a quasicrystalline structure, recently obtained in a molecular-dynamics simulation of rapid cooling of a binary melt, is analyzed for binary hard-sphere mixtures within a density-functional approach. It is found that this…
The cooperative action of many molecular motors is essential for dynamic processes such as cell motility and mitosis. This action can be studied by using motility assays in which the motion of cytoskeletal filaments over a surface coated…
In complex crystals close to melting or at finite temperatures, different types of defects are ubiquitous and their role becomes relevant in the mechanical response of these solids. Conventional elasticity theory fails to provide a…
This paper is concerned with the quasi-static rheology of packings of glass spheres of diameter d (d=0.2mm, 0.7mm or 3mm). Stick-slip behaviour is observed on small spheres, i.e d=0.2mm & 0.7mm ; one observes also in this case a weakening…
Using numerical simulations, we characterized the behavior of an elastic membrane immersed in an active fluid. Our findings reveal a nontrivial folding and re-expansion of the membrane that is controlled by the interplay of its resistance…
A technique to measure microscopic rotational motion is presented. When a small fluorescent polystyrene microsphere is attached to a larger polystyrene microsphere, the larger sphere acts as a lens for the smaller microsphere and provides…
Does the size of atoms present a lower limit to the size of electronic structures that can be fabricated in solids? This limit can be overcome by using devices that exploit quantum mechanical scattering of electron waves at atoms arranged…
Levitodynamics, i.e., the levitation of objects of mesoscopic size has made huge progress in the last decade, giving rise to new experimental opportunities for instance in materials science, but also allowing to address questions of…