Universal features of annealing and aging in compaction of granular piles

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Paula A. Gago, Imperial College London; Stefan Boettcher, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2020-12-29
• Publisher: NATL ACAD SCIENCES
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2020 the Author(s).
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2012757117
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• Volume: 117
• Issue: 52
• Start Page: 33072
• End Page: 33076
• Keywords: granular; Science & Technology - Other Topics; DYNAMICS; aging; Multidisciplinary Sciences; glass; Science & Technology; annealing; STATISTICS; record dynamics
• Research Categories: Physics, General; Engineering, General

Abstract

This paper links the nonequilibrium glassy relaxation behavior of otherwise athermal granular materials to those of thermally activated glasses. Thus, it demonstrates a much wider universality among complex glassy materials out of equilibrium. Our three-dimensional molecular dynamics simulations, fully incorporating friction and inelastic collisions, are designed to reproduce experimental behavior of tapped granular piles. A simple theory based on a dynamics of records explains why the typical phenomenology of annealing and aging after a quench should extend to such granular matter, activated by taps, beyond the more familiar realm of polymers, colloids, and magnetic materials that all exhibit thermal fluctuations.