arXiv subjects

Massimo Pica Ciamarra

Publications and source records attributed to Massimo Pica Ciamarra.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Transition from Static to Dynamic Friction in an Array of Frictional Disks

The nature of an instability that controls the transition from static to dynamical friction is studied in the the context of an array of frictional disks that are pressed from above on a substrate. In this case the forces are all explicit and Newtonian dynamics can be employed without any phenomenological assumptions. We show that an oscillatory instability that had been discovered recently is responsible for the transition, allowing individual disks to spontaneously reach the Coulomb limit and slide with dynamic friction. The transparency of the model allows a full understanding of the phenomenon, including the speeds of the waves that travel from the trailing to the leading edge and vice versa.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2019

Long-wavelength fluctuations and anomalous dynamics in two-dimensional liquids

Long-wavelength Mermin-Wagner fluctuations prevent the existence of translational long-range order, in two-dimensional systems at finite temperature. Their dynamical signature, which is the divergence of the vibrational amplitude with the system size, also affects disordered solids and washes out the transient solid-like response generally exhibited by liquids cooled below their melting temperature. Through a combined numerical and experimental investigation, here we show that long-wavelength fluctuations are also relevant at high temperature, where the liquid dynamics does not reveal a transient solid-like response. In this regime, they induce an unusual but ubiquitous decoupling between long-time diffusion coefficient $D$ and structural relaxation time $τ$, where $D\propto τ^{-κ}$, with $κ> 1$. Long-wavelength fluctuations have a negligible influence on the relaxation dynamics only at extremely high temperatures, in molecular liquids, or extremely low densities, in colloidal systems.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2019

Noise Amplification in Frictional Systems: Oscillatory Instabilities

It was discovered recently that frictional granular materials can exhibit an important mechanism for instabilities, i.e the appearance of pairs of complex eigenvalues in their stability matrix. The consequence is an oscillatory exponential growth of small perturbations which are tamed by dynamical nonlinearities. The amplification can be giant, many orders of magnitude, and it ends with a catastrophic system-spanning plastic event. Here we follow up on this discovery, explore the scaling laws characterizing the onset of the instability, the scenarios of the development of the instability with and without damping, and the nature of the eventual system spanning events. The possible relevance to earthquake physics and to the transition from static to dynamic friction is discussed.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2019

Non-Equilibrium Strongly Hyperuniform Fluids of Circle Active Particles with Large Local Density Fluctuations

Disordered hyperuniform structures are an exotic state of matter having vanishing long-wavelength density fluctuations similar to perfect crystals but without long-range order. Although its importance in materials science has been brought to the fore in past decades, the rational design of experimentally realizable disordered strongly hyperuniform microstructures remains challenging. Here we find a new type of non-equilibrium fluid with strong hyperuniformity in two-dimensional systems of chiral active particles, where particles perform independent circular motions of the radius R with the same handedness. This new hyperuniform fluid features a special length scale, i.e., the diameter of the circular trajectory of particles, below which large density fluctuations are observed. By developing a dynamic mean-field theory, we show that the large local density fluctuations can be explained as a motility-induced microphase separation, while the Fickian diffusion at large length scales and local center-of-mass-conserved noises are responsible for the global hyperuniformity.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2019

Oscillatory Instabilities in Frictional Granular Matter

Frictional granular matter is shown to be fundamentally different in its plastic responses to external strains from generic glasses and amorphous solids without friction. While regular glasses exhibit plastic instabilities due to a vanishing of a real eigenvalue of the Hessian matrix, frictional granular materials can exhibit a previously unnoticed additional mechanism for instabilities, i.e. the appearance of a pair of complex eigenvalues leading to oscillatory exponential growth of perturbations which are tamed by dynamical nonlinearities. This fundamental difference appears crucial for the understanding of plasticity and failure in frictional granular materials. The possible relevance to earthquake physics is discussed.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2018

Hyperuniformity and generalized fluctuations at Jamming

The suppression of density fluctuations at different length scales is the hallmark of hyperuniformity. However, its existence and significance in jammed solids is still a matter of debate. We explore the presence of this hidden order in a manybody interacting model known to exhibit a rigidity transition, and find that in contrary to exisiting speculations, density fluctuations in the rigid phase are only suppressed up to a finite lengthscale. This length scale grows and diverges at the critical point of the rigidity transition, such that the system is hyperuniform in the fluid phase. This suggests that hyperuniformity is a feature generically absent in jammed solids. Surprisingly, corresponding fluctuations in geometrical properties of the model are found to be strongly suppressed over an even greater but still finite lengthscale, indicating that the system self organizes in preference to suppress geometrical fluctuations at the expense of incurring density fluctuations.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2018

Role of cell deformability in the two-dimensional melting of biological tissues

The size and shape of a large variety of polymeric particles, including biological cells, star polymers, dendrimes, and microgels, depend on the applied stresses as the particles are extremely soft. In high-density suspensions these particles deform as stressed by their neighbors, which implies that the interparticle interaction becomes of many-body type. Investigating a two-dimensional model of cell tissue, where the single particle shear modulus is related to the cell adhesion strength, here we show that the particle deformability affects the melting scenario. On increasing the temperature, stiff particles undergo a first-order solid/liquid transition, while soft ones undergo a continuous solid/hexatic transition followed by a discontinuous hexatic/liquid transition. At zero temperature the melting transition driven by the decrease of the adhesion strength occurs through two continuous transitions as in the Kosterlitz, Thouless, Halperin, Nelson, and Young scenario. Thus, there is a range of adhesion strength values where the hexatic phase is stable at zero temperature, which suggests that the intermediate phase of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition could be hexatic type.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Universal behaviour of the glass and the jamming transitions in finite dimensions

We investigate the glass and the jamming transitions of hard spheres in finite dimensions $d$, through a revised cell theory, that combines the free volume and the Random First Order Theory (RFOT). Recent results show that in infinite dimension the ideal glass transition and jamming transitions are distinct, while based on our theory we argue that they indeed coincide for finite $d$. As a consequence, jamming results into a percolation transition described by RFOT, with a static length diverging with exponent $ν=2/d$, which we verify through finite size scaling, and standard critical exponents $α= 0$, $β= 0$ and $γ= 2$ independent on $d$.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2017

Rattler-induced aging dynamics in jammed granular systems

Granular materials jam when developing a network of contact forces able to resist the applied stresses. Through numerical simulations of the dynamics of the jamming process, we show that the jamming transition does not occur when the kinetic energy vanishes. Rather, as the system jams, the kinetic energy becomes dominated by rattlers particles, that scatter withing their cages. The relaxation of the kinetic energy in the jammed configuration exhibits a double power-law decay, which we interpret in terms of the interplay between backbone and rattlers particles.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Unifying description of the damping regimes of a stochastic particle in a periodic potential

We analyze the classical problem of the stochastic dynamics of a particle confined in a periodic potential, through the so called Il'in and Khasminskii model, with a novel semi-analytical approach. Our approach gives access to the transient and the asymptotic dynamics in all damping regimes, which are difficult to investigate in the usual Brownian model. We show that the crossover from the overdamped to the underdamped regime is associated with the loss of a typical time scale and of a typical length scale, as signaled by the divergence of the probability distribution of a certain dynamical event. In the underdamped regime, normal diffusion coexists with a non Gaussian displacement probability distribution for a long transient, as recently observed in a variety of different systems. We rationalize the microscopic physical processes leading to the non-Gaussian behavior, as well as the timescale to recover the Gaussian statistics. The theoretical results are supported by numerical calculations and are compared to those obtained for the Brownian model.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Force Percolation Transition of Jammed Granular Systems

The mechanical and transport properties of jammed materials originate from an underlying per- colating network of contact forces between the grains. Using extensive simulations we investigate the force-percolation transition of this network, where two particles are considered as linked if their interparticle force overcomes a threshold. We show that this transition belongs to the random percolation universality class, thus ruling out the existence of long-range correlations between the forces. Through a combined size and pressure scaling for the percolative quantities, we show that the continuous force percolation transition evolves into the discontinuous jamming transition in the zero pressure limit, as the size of the critical region scales with the pressure.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2017

Cage Size and Jump Precursors in Glass-Forming Liquids: Experiment and Simulations

Glassy dynamics is intermittent, as particles suddenly jump out of the cage formed by their neighbours, and heterogeneous, as these jumps are not uniformly distributed across the system. Relating these features of the dynamics to the diverse local environments explored by the particles is essential to rationalize the relaxation process. Here we investigate this issue characterizing the local environment of a particle with the amplitude of its short time vibrational motion, as determined by segmenting in cages and jumps the particle trajectories. Both simulations of supercooled liquids and experiments on colloidal suspensions show that particles in large cages are likely to jump after a small time-lag, and that, on average, the cage enlarges shortly before the particle jumps. At large time-lags, the cage has essentially a constant value, which is smaller for longer-lasting cages. Finally, we clarify how this coupling between cage size and duration controls the average behaviour and opens the way to a better understanding of the relaxation process in glass--forming liquids.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2017

Relaxation functions and dynamical heterogeneities in a model of chemical gel interfering with glass transition

We investigate the heterogeneous dynamics in a model, where chemical gelation and glass transition interplay, focusing on the dynamical susceptibility. Two independent mechanisms give raise to the correlations, which are manifested in the dynamical susceptibility: one is related to the presence of permanent clusters, while the other is due to the increase of particle crowding as the glass transition is approached. The superposition of these two mechanisms originates a variety of different behaviours. We show that these two mechanisms can be unentangled considering the wave vector dependence of the dynamical susceptibility.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2016

Escape rate and diffusion of a random walker

We determine the rate of escape from a potential well, and the diffusion coefficient in a periodic potential, of a random walker that moves under the influence of the potential in between successive collisions with the heat bath. In the overdamped limit, both the escape rate and the diffusion coefficient coincide with those of a Langevin particle. Conversely, in the underdamped limit the two dynamics have a different temperature dependence. In particular, at low temperature the random walk has a smaller escape rate, but a larger diffusion coefficient.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Solid-on-solid single block dynamics under mechanical vibration

The suppression of friction between sliding objects, modulated or enhanced by mechanical vibrations, is well established. However, the precise conditions of occurrence of these phenomena is not well understood. Here we address these questions focusing on a simple spring--block model, which is relevant to investigate friction both at the atomistic as well as the macroscopic scale. This allows to investigate the influence on friction of the properties of the external drive, of the geometry of the surfaces over which the block moves, and of the confining force. Via numerical simulations and a theoretical study of the equations of motion we identify the conditions under which friction is suppressed and/or recovered, and evidence the critical role played by surface modulations and by the properties of the confining force.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2016

Cage-jump motion reveals universal dynamics and non-universal structural features in glass forming liquids

The sluggish and heterogeneous dynamics of glass forming liquids is frequently associated to the transient coexistence of two phases of particles, respectively with an high and low mobility. In the absence of a dynamical order parameter that acquires a transient bimodal shape, these phases are commonly identified empirically, which makes difficult investigating their relation with the structural properties of the system. Here we show that the distribution of single particle diffusivities can be accessed within a Continuous Time Random Walk description of the intermittent motion, and that this distribution acquires a transient bimodal shape in the deeply supercooled regime, thus allowing for a clear identification of the two coexisting phase. In a simple two-dimensional glass forming model, the dynamic phase coexistence is accompanied by a striking structural counterpart: the distribution of the crystalline-like order parameter becomes also bimodal on cooling, with increasing overlap between ordered and immobile particles. This simple structural signature is absent in other models, such as the three-dimesional Kob-Andersen Lennard-Jones mixture, where more sophisticated order parameters might be relevant. In this perspective, the identification of the two dynamical coexisting phases opens the way to deeper investigations of structure-dynamics correlations.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2016

Cluster structure and dynamics in gels and glasses

The dynamical arrest of gels is the consequence of a well defined structural phase transition, leading to the formation of a spanning cluster of bonded particles. The dynamical glass transition, instead, is not accompanied by any clear structural signature. Nevertheless, both transitions are characterized by the emergence of dynamical heterogeneities. Reviewing recent results from numerical simulations, we discuss the behavior of dynamical heterogeneities in different systems and show that a clear connection with the structure exists in the case of gels. The emerging picture may be also relevant for the more elusive case of glasses. We show, as an example, that the relaxation process of a simple glass-forming model can be related to a reverse percolation transition and discuss further perspective in this direction.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2016

Emergence of linear elasticity from the atomistic description of matter

We investigate the emergence of the continuum elastic limit from the atomistic description of matter at zero temperature considering how locally defined elastic quantities depend on the coarse graining length scale. Results obtained numerically investigating different model systems are rationalized in a unifying picture according to which the continuum elastic limit emerges through a process determined by two system properties, the degree of disorder, and a length scale associated to the transverse low-frequency vibrational modes. The degree of disorder controls the emergence of long-range local shear stress and shear strain correlations, while the transverse length scale influences the amplitude of the fluctuations of the local elastic constants.

cond-mat.soft↗