Glassy dynamics of Brownian particles with velocity-dependent friction.

We consider a two-dimensional model system of Brownian particles in which slow particles are accelerated while fast particles are damped. The motion of the individual particles is described by a Langevin equation with Rayleigh-Helmholtz velocity-dependent friction. In the case of noninteracting particles, the time evolution equations lead to a non-Gaussian velocity distribution. The velocity-dependent friction allows negative values of the friction or energy intakes by slow particles, which we consider active motion, and also causes breaking of the fluctuation dissipation relation. Defining the effective temperature proportional to the second moment of velocity, it is shown that for a constant effective temperature the higher the noise strength, the lower the number of active particles in the system. Using the Mori-Zwanzig formalism and the mode-coupling approximation, the equations of motion for the density autocorrelation function are derived. The equations are solved using the equilibrium structure factors. The integration-through-transients approach is used to derive a relation between the structure factor in the stationary state considering the interacting forces, and the conventional equilibrium static structure factor.

Glass transition of charged particles in two-dimensional confinement.

The glass transition of mesoscopic charged particles in two-dimensional confinement is studied by mode-coupling theory. We consider two types of effective interactions between the particles, corresponding to two different models for the distribution of surrounding ions that are integrated out in coarse-grained descriptions. In the first model, a planar monolayer of charged particles is immersed in an unbounded isotropic bath of ions, giving rise to an isotropically screened Debye-Hückel (Yukawa)-type effective interaction. The second, experimentally more relevant system is a monolayer of negatively charged particles that levitate atop a flat horizontal electrode, as frequently encountered in laboratory experiments with complex (dusty) plasmas. A steady plasma current toward the electrode gives rise to an anisotropic effective interaction potential between the particles, with an algebraically long-ranged in-plane decay. In a comprehensive parameter scan that covers the typical range of experimentally accessible plasma conditions, we calculate and compare the mode-coupling predictions for the glass transition in both kinds of systems.

Glass-transition properties of Yukawa potentials: from charged point particles to hard spheres.

The glass transition is investigated in three dimensions for single and double Yukawa potentials for the full range of control parameters. For vanishing screening parameter, the limit of the one-component plasma is obtained; for large screening parameters and high coupling strengths, the glass-transition properties cross over to the hard-sphere system. Between the two limits, the entire transition diagram can be described by analytical functions. Unlike other potentials, the glass-transition and melting lines for Yukawa potentials are found to follow shifted but otherwise identical curves in control-parameter space.

Permeability, porosity, and percolation properties of two-dimensional disordered fracture networks.

Using extensive Monte Carlo simulations, we study the effective permeability, porosity, and percolation properties of two-dimensional fracture networks in which the fractures are represented by rectangles of finite widths. The parameters of the study are the width of the fractures and their number density. For low and intermediate densities, the average porosity of the network follows a power-law relation with the density. The exponent of the power law itself depends on the fractures' width through a power law. For an intermediate range of the densities, the effective permeability scales with the fractures' width as a power law, with an exponent that depends on the density. For high densities the effective permeability also depends on the porosity through a power law, with an exponent that depends on the fractures' width. In agreement with the results, experimental data also indicate the existence of a power-law relationship between the effective permeability and porosity in consolidated sandstones and sedimentary rocks with a nonuniversal exponent. The percolation threshold or critical number density of the fractures depends on their width and is maximum if they are represented by squares, rather than rectangles.