What makes a material a solid? Crystalline materials have their atoms and molecules organized into neatly repeating patterns — breaking up these repeating patterns costs energy, and the result is a material that resists deformation, that is, one that is solid. Glassy materials — which can be made from silica as in ordinary window glass … More Prof. Daniel Sussman is awarded an NSF CAREER grant

Density fluctuations in granular piles traversing the glass transition: A grain-scale characterization via the internal energy Stefan Boettcher, in collaboration with Paula Gago from Imperial College of London, used simulations of a cylindrical granular pile with 60000 spheres to achieve a grain-level understanding of the compaction dynamics. Its static configurations are rearranged via brief “taps” … More Density fluctuations in granular piles traversing the glass transition…

This paper links the nonequilibrium glassy relaxation behavior of otherwise athermal granular materials to those of thermally activated glasses. Thus, it demonstrates a much wider universality among complex glassy materials out of equilibrium. Our three-dimensional molecular dynamics simulations, fully incorporating friction and inelastic collisions, are designed to reproduce experimental behavior of tapped granular piles. A … More Universal Features of Annealing and Aging in Compaction of Granular Piles.

Emory University: Arts and Sciences: Physics Location Atlanta, GA Open Date Oct 13, 2020 Description The Department of Physics at Emory University invites applications for an open-rank, tenure-track or tenured faculty position in theoretical physics to begin in fall 2021. We are particularly interested in candidates who would benefit from and complement the existing strengths … More Faculty Position in Theoretical Physics at Emory University