arXiv subjects

Xulai Sun

Publications and source records attributed to Xulai Sun.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2022

Experimental evidence of detailed balance in granular systems

The principle of detailed balance (DB) states that every kinetic transition in a system with many micro-states, $μ$, is balanced, on average, with the opposite transition, $μ_i\leftrightharpoonsμ_j$. Since its introduction by Boltzmann, this principle has been used by luminaries, such as Einstein, Eddington, Kramers, Pauli, Ehrenfest, Dirac, Onsager, and many others to derive significant results that underpin much of our scientific understanding. The current belief is that DB is satisfied only in equilibrium systems, while non-equilibrium steady states can only be balanced by cycles, such as $A\to B\to C\to A$. We show here experimentally that DB can exist and is commonly and robustly satisfied in a family of quasi-statically cyclically sheared granular systems. We further study the approach to DB as a function of system size and time. Given the significant impact that this principle has had on equilibrium systems, we believe that this discovery paves the way for better models of the dynamics of non-equilibrium systems.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2021

Critical behaviors of jamming in cyclically sheared frictional hard granular particles

In stark contrast to the jamming of frictionless hard-sphere (hard-disk if in two dimensions) packings, the critical jamming of frictional packings is much more elusive and still under intense debate. Here we show that frictional hard-disk packings self-organize near a critical jamming state when subjected to quasi-static steady-state cyclic shear, displaying scale-free fluctuations in particle velocity fields as characterized by the power spectra $E(k)\propto k^{-α}$ for both longitudinal and transverse modes in wavevector space, with $α\approx2.0\pm0.15$, and the nearly flat spectra $E(ω)\propto const.$ in angular frequency domain. Our findings agree quantitatively with the predictions of the Langevin-type effective medium theory of S. Henkes and coworkers with two diverging length scales associated respectively with the longitudinal and transverse modes, showing a hallmark of critical behaviors of jamming. Moreover, our findings are consistent with the conceptual framework of general isostaticity but with a key difference that the system self-organizes to a critical jamming state through a strong coupling of mechanical structure and dynamics. Our findings are important in providing microscopic mechanism in understanding the nonlocal rheologies and guide principles in developing constitutive relations of real granular materials.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2021

Disorder-induced vibrational anomalies from crystalline to amorphous solids

The origin of boson peak -- an excess of density of states over Debye's model in glassy solids -- is still under intense debate, among which some theories and experiments suggest that boson peak is related to van-Hove singularity. Here we show that boson peak and van-Hove singularity are well separated identities, by measuring the vibrational density of states of a two-dimensional granular system, where packings are tuned gradually from a crystalline, to polycrystals, and to an amorphous material. We observe a coexistence of well separated boson peak and van-Hove singularities in polycrystals, in which the van-Hove singularities gradually shift to higher frequency values while broadening their shapes and eventually disappear completely when the structural disorder $η$ becomes sufficiently high. By analyzing firstly the strongly disordered system ($η=1$) and the disordered granular crystals ($η=0$), and then systems of intermediate disorder with $η$ in between, we find that boson peak is associated with spatially uncorrelated random flucutations of shear modulus $δG/\langle G \rangle$ whereas the smearing of van-Hove singularities is associated with spatially correlated fluctuations of shear modulus $δG/\langle G \rangle$.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2020

Friction-controlled entropy-stability competition in granular systems

Using cyclic shear to drive a two dimensional granular system, we determine the structural characteristics for different inter-particle friction coefficients. These characteristics are the result of a competition between mechanical stability and entropy, with the latter's effect increasing with friction. We show that a parameter-free maximum-entropy argument alone predicts an exponential cell order distribution, with excellent agreement with the experimental observation. We show that friction only tunes the mean cell order and, consequently, the exponential decay rate and the packing fraction. We further show that cells, which can be very large in such systems, are short-lived, implying that our systems are liquid-like rather than glassy.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2020

Level statistics and Anderson delocalization in two-dimensional granular materials

Contrary to the theoretical predictions that all waves in two-dimensional disordered materials are localized, Anderson localization is observed only for sufficiently high frequencies in an isotropically jammed two-dimensional disordered granular packing of photoelastic disks. More specifically, we have performed an experiment in analyzing the level statistics of normal mode vibrations. We observe delocalized modes in the low-frequency boson-peak regime and localized modes in the high frequency regime with the crossover frequency just below the Debye frequency. We find that the level-distance distribution obeys Gaussian-Orthogonal-Ensemble (GOE) statistics, i.e. Wigner-Dyson distribution, in the boson-peak regime, whereas those in the high-frequency regime Poisson statistics is observed. The scenario is found to coincide with that of harmonic vibrational excitations in three-dimensional disordered solids.

cond-mat.soft↗