Statistical mechanics of jammed matter
Item
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Title
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Statistical mechanics of jammed matter
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:6a1baf587a6b:10026
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identifier
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10021
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Creator
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Wang, Ping,
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Contributor
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Hernan A. Makse
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Date
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2009
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Condensed matter physics | granular | jammed matter | jamming | statistical mechanics
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Abstract
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In a thermal system, the Brownian motion of the constituent particles implies that the system dynamically explores the available energy landscape, such that the notion of a statistical ensemble applies. For densely packed systems of interest in this study, in which enduring contacts between particles are important, the potential energy barrier prohibits an equivalent random motion. At first sight it seems that the thermal statistical mechanics do not apply to these systems as there is no mechanism for averaging over the configurational states. Hence, these systems are inherently out of equilibrium. On the other hand, if the granular material is gently tapped such that the grains can slowly explore the available configurations, the situation becomes analogous to the equilibrium case scenario. It has been shown that the volume of the system is dependent on the applied tapping regime, and that this dependence is reversible, implying ergodicity [1]. This result gives support to the proposed statistical ensemble valid for dense, static and slowly moving granular materials which was first introduced by Edwards and Oakeshott in 1989 [2, 3]. Through this approach, notions of macroscopic quantities such as entropy and compactivity were also introduced to granular matter.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Physics
