arXiv subjects

Gianluca Costagliola

Publications and source records attributed to Gianluca Costagliola.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2022

Correlation between slip precursors and topological length scales at the onset of frictional sliding

Understanding the interplay between concurrent length scales is a fundamental issue in many problems involving friction between sliding interfaces, from tribology to the study of earthquakes and seismic faults. On the one hand, a macroscopic sliding event is preceded by slip precursors with a characteristic propagation length scale. On the other hand, the emergent frictional properties can be modified by surface patterning depending on their geometric length scale. This suggests that macroscopic sliding of structured surfaces is governed by the interplay between the length scale of the slip precursors and those characterizing the geometric features. In this paper, we investigate these aspects by means of numerical simulations using a two-dimensional spring-block model. We discuss the influence of the geometric features on the occurrence and localization of slip precursors, extending the study to interfaces characterized by two geometric length scales. We find that different types of detachment sequences are triggered by specific surface structures, depending on their scales and relation to sliding direction, leading to a macroscopically smooth transition to sliding in the case of hierarchical and/or anisotropic features. These concepts could be exploited in devices switching from static to dynamic sliding, and can contribute to an improvement in the understanding and interpretation of seismic data

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2021

Experimental and numerical study of the effect of surface patterning on the frictional properties of polymer surfaces

We describe benchmark experiments to evaluate the frictional properties of laser patterned low-density polyethylene as a function of sliding velocity, normal force and humidity. The pattern is a square lattice of square cavities with sub-mm spacing. We find that dynamic friction decreases compared to non-patterned surfaces, since stress concentrations lead to anticipated detachment, and that stick-slip behavior is also affected. Friction increases with humidity, and the onset of stick-slip events occurs in the high humidity regime. Experimental results are compared with numerical simulations of a simplified 2-D spring-block model. A good qualitative agreement can be obtained by introducing a deviation from the linear behavior of the Amontons-Coulomb law with the load, due to a saturation in the effective contact area with pressure. This also leads also to the improvement of the quantitative results of the spring-block model by reducing the discrepancy with the experimental results, indicating the robustness of the adopted simplified approach, which could be adopted to design patterned surfaces with controlled friction properties.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2020

Energy trapped Ising model

In this paper we have considered the 3D Ising model perturbed with the energy operator coupled with a non uniform harmonic potential acting as a trap, showing that this system satisfies the trap-size scaling behavior. Eventually, we have computed the correlators $\langle σ(z) σ(0)\rangle$, $ \langle ε(z) ε(0)\rangle$ and $\langle σ(z) ε(0)\rangle$ near the critical point by means of conformal perturbation theory. Combining this result with Monte Carlo simulations, we have been able to estimate the OPE coefficients $C^σ_{σε}$, $C^ε_{σσ}$ and $C^ε_{εε}$, finding a good agreement with the values obtained in [1,2].

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

A 2-D Model for friction of complex anisotropic surfaces

The friction force observed at macroscale is the result of interactions at various lower length scales that are difficult to model in a combined manner. For this reason, simplified approaches are required, depending on the specific aspect to be investigated. In particular, the dimensionality of the system is often reduced, especially in models designed to provide a qualitative description of frictional properties of elastic materials, e.g. the spring-block model. In this paper, we implement for the first time a two dimensional extension of the spring-block model, applying it to structured surfaces and investigating by means of numerical simulations the frictional behaviour of a surface in the presence of features like cavities, pillars or complex anisotropic structures. We show how friction can be effectively tuned by appropriate design of such surface features.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Tuning friction with composite hierarchical surfaces

Macroscopic friction coefficients observed in experiments are the result of various types of complex multiscale interactions between sliding surfaces. Therefore, there are several ways to modify them depending on the physical phenomena involved. Recently, it has been demonstrated that surface structure, e.g. artificial patterning, can be used to tune frictional properties. In this paper, we show how the global friction coefficients can also be manipulated using composite surfaces with varying roughness or stiffness values, i.e. by combining geometrical features with the modification of local friction coefficients or stiffnesses. We show that a remarkable reduction of static friction can be achieved by introducing hierarchical arrangements of varying local roughness values, or by introducing controlled material stiffness variations.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Static and dynamic friction of hierarchical surfaces

Hierarchical structures are very common in Nature, but only recently have they been systematically studied in materials physics, in order to understand the specific effects they can have on the mechanical properties of various systems. Structural hierarchy provides a way to tune and optimize macroscopic mechanical properties starting from simple base constituents, and new materials are nowadays designed exploiting this possibility. This can be also true in the field of tribology. In this paper, we study the effect of hierarchical patterned surfaces on the static and dynamic friction coefficients of an elastic material. Our results are obtained by means of numerical simulations using a 1-D spring-block model, which has previously been used to investigate various aspects of friction. Despite the simplicity of the model, we highlight some possible mechanisms that explain how hierarchical structures can significantly modify the friction coefficients of a material, providing a means to achieve tunability.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Applications of Jarzynski's relation in lattice gauge theories

Jarzynski's equality is a well-known result in statistical mechanics, relating free-energy differences between equilibrium ensembles with fluctuations in the work performed during non-equilibrium transformations from one ensemble to the other. In this work, an extension of this relation to lattice gauge theory will be presented, along with numerical results for the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge model in three dimensions and for the equation of state in $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions. Then, further applications will be discussed, in particular for the Schrödinger functional and for the study of QCD in strong magnetic fields.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2016

Jarzynski's theorem for lattice gauge theory

Jarzynski's theorem is a well-known equality in statistical mechanics, which relates fluctuations in the work performed during a non-equilibrium transformation of a system, to the free-energy difference between two equilibrium ensembles. In this article, we apply Jarzynski's theorem in lattice gauge theory, for two examples of challenging computational problems, namely the calculation of interface free energies and the determination of the equation of state. We conclude with a discussion of further applications of interest in QCD and in other strongly coupled gauge theories, in particular for the Schroedinger functional and for simulations at finite density using reweighting techniques.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2016

Conformal perturbation of off-critical correlators in the 3D Ising universality class

Thanks to the impressive progress of conformal bootstrap methods we have now very precise estimates of both scaling dimensions and OPE coefficients for several 3D universality classes. We show how to use this information to obtain similarly precise estimates for off-critical correlators using conformal perturbation. We discuss in particular the $< σ(r) σ(0) >$, $< ε(r) ε(0) >$ and $< σ(r) ε(0) >$ two point functions in the high and low temperature regimes of the 3D Ising model and evaluate the leading and next to leading terms in the $s = t r^{Δ_{t}}$ expansion, where $t$ is the reduced temperature. Our results for $< σ(r) σ(0) >$ agree both with Monte Carlo simulations and with a set of experimental estimates of the critical scattering function.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

OPE Coefficients of the 3D Ising model with a trapping potential

Recently the OPE coefficients of the 3D Ising model universality class have been calculated by studying the two-point functions perturbed from the critical point with a relevant field. We show that this method can be applied also when the perturbation is performed with a relevant field coupled to a non uniform potential acting as a trap. This setting is described by the trap size scaling ansatz, that can be combined with the general framework of the conformal perturbation in order to write down the correlators $<σ(\mathbf {r})σ(0)>$, $<σ(\mathbf{r})ε(0)>$ and $<ε(\mathbf {r})ε(0)>$, from which the OPE coefficients can be estimated. We find $C^σ_{σε}= 1.051(3)$ , in agreement with the results already known in the literature, and $C^ε_{εε}= 1.32 (15)$ , confirming and improving the previous estimate obtained in the uniform perturbation case.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

An analytical continuation approach for evaluating emission lineshapes of molecular aggregates and the adequacy of multichromophoric Förster theory

In large photosynthetic chromophore-protein complexes not all chromophores are coupled strongly, and thus the situation is well described by formation of delocalized states in certain domains of strongly coupled chromophores. In order to describe excitation energy transfer among different domains without performing extensive numerical calculations,one of the most popular techniques is a generalization of Forster theory to multichromophoric aggregates (generalized Forster theory) proposed by Sumi [J.Phys.Chem.B,103,252(1999)] and Scholes and Fleming [J.Phys.Chem.B 104,1854(2000)]. The aim of this paper is twofold. In the first place, by means of analytic continuation and a time convolutionless quantum master equation approach, a theory of emission lineshape of multichromophoric systems or molecular aggregates is proposed. In the second place,a comprehensive framework that allows for a clear,compact and effective study of the multichromophoric approach in the full general version proposed by Jang, Newton and Silbey [Phys. Rev. Lett.,92,218301,(2004)] is developed. We apply the present theory to simple paradigmatic systems and we show: the effectiveness of time-convolutionless techniques in deriving lineshape operators; how the multichromophoric approach can give significant improvements in the determination of energy transfer rates in particular when the systems under study are not the purely Forster regime. The presented scheme allows for an effective implementation of the multichromophoric Forster approach which may be of use for simulating energy transfer dynamics in large photosynthetic aggregates, for which massive computational resources are usually required. Furthermore,our method allows for a systematic comparison of multichromophoric Foster and generalized Forster theories and for a clear understanding of their respective limits of validity.

physics.bio-ph↗

arXiv2011

Critical dynamics in trapped particle systems

We discuss the effects of a trapping space-dependent potential on the critical dynamics of lattice gas models. Scaling arguments provide a dynamic trap-size scaling framework to describe how critical dynamics develops in the large trap-size limit. We present numerical results for the relaxational dynamics of a two-dimensional lattice gas (Ising) model in the presence of a harmonic trap, which support the dynamic trap-size scaling scenario.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗