Microscopic Mean-Field Theory of the Jamming Transition

Hugo Jacquin, Ludovic Berthier, and Francesco Zamponi
Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 135702 – Published 31 March 2011

Abstract

Dense particle packings acquire rigidity through a nonequilibrium jamming transition commonly observed in materials from emulsions to sandpiles. We describe athermal packings and their observed geometric phase transitions by using equilibrium statistical mechanics and develop a fully microscopic, mean-field theory of the jamming transition for soft repulsive spherical particles. We derive analytically some of the scaling laws and exponents characterizing the transition and obtain new predictions for microscopic correlation functions of jammed states that are amenable to experimental verifications and whose accuracy we confirm by using computer simulations.

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  • Received 19 November 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.135702

© 2011 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Hugo Jacquin1, Ludovic Berthier2, and Francesco Zamponi3

  • 1Laboratoire Matière et Systèmes Complexes, UMR CNRS 7057, Université Paris Diderot–Paris 7, 10 rue Alice Domon et Léonie Duquet, 75205 Paris cedex 13, France
  • 2Laboratoire Charles Coulomb, UMR 5221 CNRS and Université Montpellier 2, Montpellier, France
  • 3Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, École Normale Supérieure, UMR CNRS 8549, 24 Rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France

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Issue

Vol. 106, Iss. 13 — 1 April 2011

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