Abstract
We follow over a long time sequence, the motion of individual particles in an experimental model of “glassy” granular material. In spite of the weak level of vibration applied to the packing, the particles display individual motion in the form of a sub-diffusive random walk followed by a standard diffusive motion. The statistical features of the random walk is examined in detail. Though the motion is tiny at the local granular level, we demonstrate collective synchronizations of the jump dynamics involving several tens of particles. This collective motion is directly related to the caging effect observed in other glassy systems. Through an analysis of the motion kinematics, we relate the granular motion to a collective “solid-like” dynamics keeping its coherence over the whole sub-diffusive domain.
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Caballero-Robledo, G.A., Goldenberg, C. & Clement, E. Local dynamics and synchronization in a granular glass. Granular Matter 14, 239–245 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-012-0320-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-012-0320-9