We have observed a metallic solid (Al-14-at.%-Mn) with long-range orientational order, but with icosahedral point group symmetry, which is inconsistent with lattice translations. Its diffraction spots are as sharp as those of crystals but cannot be indexed to any Bravais lattice. The solid is metastable and forms from the melt by a first-order transition.

Metallic Phase with Long-Range Orientational Order and No Translational Symmetry

Since the subject of traffic dynamics has captured the interest of physicists, many surprising effects have been revealed and explained. Some of the questions now understood are the following: Why are vehicles sometimes stopped by ``phantom traffic jams'' even though drivers all like to drive fast? What are the mechanisms behind stop-and-go traffic? Why are there several different kinds of congestion, and how are they related? Why do most traffic jams occur considerably before the road capacity is reached? Can a temporary reduction in the volume of traffic cause a lasting traffic jam? Under which conditions can speed limits speed up traffic? Why do pedestrians moving in opposite directions normally organize into lanes, while similar systems ``freeze by heating''? All of these questions have been answered by applying and extending methods from statistical physics and nonlinear dynamics to self-driven many-particle systems. This article considers the empirical data and then reviews the main approaches to modeling pedestrian and vehicle traffic. These include microscopic (particle-based), mesoscopic (gas-kinetic), and macroscopic (fluid-dynamic) models. Attention is also paid to the formulation of a micro-macro link, to aspects of universality, and to other unifying concepts, such as a general modeling framework for self-driven many-particle systems, including spin systems. While the primary focus is upon vehicle and pedestrian traffic, applications to biological or socio-economic systems such as bacterial colonies, flocks of birds, panics, and stock market dynamics are touched upon as well.

Traffic and related self-driven many-particle systems

Stochastic thermodynamics as reviewed here systematically provides a framework for extending the notions of classical thermodynamics such as work, heat and entropy production to the level of individual trajectories of well-defined non-equilibrium ensembles. It applies whenever a non-equilibrium process is still coupled to one (or several) heat bath(s) of constant temperature. Paradigmatic systems are single colloidal particles in time-dependent laser traps, polymers in external flow, enzymes and molecular motors in single molecule assays, small biochemical networks and thermoelectric devices involving single electron transport. For such systems, a first-law like energy balance can be identified along fluctuating trajectories. For a basic Markovian dynamics implemented either on the continuum level with Langevin equations or on a discrete set of states as a master equation, thermodynamic consistency imposes a local-detailed balance constraint on noise and rates, respectively. Various integral and detailed fluctuation theorems, which are derived here in a unifying approach from one master theorem, constrain the probability distributions for work, heat and entropy production depending on the nature of the system and the choice of non-equilibrium conditions. For non-equilibrium steady states, particularly strong results hold like a generalized fluctuation–dissipation theorem involving entropy production. Ramifications and applications of these concepts include optimal driving between specified states in finite time, the role of measurement-based feedback processes and the relation between dissipation and irreversibility. Efficiency and, in particular, efficiency at maximum power can be discussed systematically beyond the linear response regime for two classes of molecular machines, isothermal ones such as molecular motors, and heat engines such as thermoelectric devices, using a common framework based on a cycle decomposition of entropy production. (Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal) This article was invited by Erwin Frey.

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Stochastic thermodynamics, fluctuation theorems and molecular machines

Spontaneous generation of complex order in apparently simple systems is both arresting and potentially useful1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11. Here we describe the appearance of complex, ordered structures induced by the buckling of thin metal films owing to thermal contraction of an underlying substrate. We deposit the films from the vapour phase on a thermally expanded polymer (polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS). Subsequent cooling of the polymer creates compressive stress in the metal film that is relieved by buckling with a uniform wavelength of 20–50 micrometres. The waves can be controlled and orientated by relief structures in the surface of the polymer, which can set up intricate, ordered patterns over large areas. We can account qualitatively for the size and form of the patterned features in terms of the non-uniform stresses developed in the film near steps on the polymer substrate. This patterning process may find applications in optical devices such as diffraction gratings and optical sensors, and as the basis for methods of strain analysis in materials.

Spontaneous formation of ordered structures in thin films of metals supported on an elastomeric polymer

A theoretical perspective is provided on the glass transition in molecular liquids at thermal equilibrium, on the spatially heterogeneous and aging dynamics of disordered materials, and on the rheology of soft glassy materials. We start with a broad introduction to the field and emphasize its connections with other subjects and its relevance. The important role played by computer simulations in studying and understanding the dynamics of systems close to the glass transition at the molecular level is given. The recent progress on the subject of the spatially heterogeneous dynamics that characterizes structural relaxation in materials with slow dynamics is reviewed. The main theoretical approaches are presented describing the glass transition in supercooled liquids, focusing on theories that have a microscopic, statistical mechanics basis. We describe both successes and failures and critically assess the current status of each of these approaches. The physics of aging dynamics in disordered materials and the rheology of soft glassy materials are then discussed, and recent theoretical progress is described. For each section, an extensive overview is given of the most recent advances, but we also describe in some detail the important open problems that will occupy a central place in this field in the coming years.

Theoretical perspective on the glass transition and amorphous materials

If a collection of pearls and wooden beads were placed in a vertical tube filled with a viscous liquid, gravity would cause the pearls to sink and the beads to rise. However, in addition to gravity, the buoyant force that results from the density differences between these grains and the liquid and hydrodynamic forces, the grains also exert a force on each other. The repulsive and short-range nature of this force derives from the fact that the grains cannot overlap in space and do not want to deform. If the tube were wide enough and contained a relatively small number of beads, it would never become blocked and the particles would rise and fall unhindered.

Freezing by heating

A solid is typically deemed amorphous, or glassy, when there are no Bragg peaks in its diffraction pattern. We construct a two dimensional configuration of Ising spins with an autocorrelation function which vanishes at all nonzero distances, so that its scattering pattern is flat. This configuration is a ground state of a spin Hamiltonian with deterministic, translationally-invariant and local interactions. Despite ostensibly being amorphous, this configuration has perfect underlying order.

Ordered glassy spin system

Under the influence of oscillatory shear, a monolayer of frictional granular disks exhibits two dynamical phase transitions: a transition from an initially disordered state to an ordered crystalline state and a dynamic active-absorbing phase transition. Although there is no reason a priori for these to be at the same critical point, they are. The transitions may also be characterized by the disk trajectories, which are nontrivial loops breaking time-reversal invariance.

Coupled Dynamical Phase Transitions in Driven Disk Packings.

We have performed numerical studies of dense granular flows on an incline with a rough bottom in two and three dimensions. This flow geometry produces a constant density profile that satisfies scaling relations of the Bagnold, rather than the viscous, kind. No surface-only flows were observed. The bulk and the surface layer differ in their rheology, as evidenced by the change in principal stress directions near the surface; a Mohr–Coulomb type failure criterion is seen only near the surface. In the bulk, normal stress anomalies are observed both in two and in three dimensions. We do not observe isostaticity in static frictional piles obtained by arresting the flow.

Rheology of dense granular flow

Granular materials are ubiquitous, ranging from sand at the beach through to stacks of paper on a desk and piles of rubbish. In broad terms, a granular material is a collection of many particles, or grains, that are massive enough to be free from the randomizing effects of temperature, which are so crucial to the properties of gases and liquids. The laws of elasticity that govern the interactions between grains have been known for many years, but the collective behaviour of an aggregate of many grains continues to surprise and intrigue researchers.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2058-7058/10/4/21/pdf

Dov Levine

Papers

Freezing by heating

Ordered glassy spin system

Coupled Dynamical Phase Transitions in Driven Disk Packings.

Rheology of dense granular flow

Looking inside granular materials