Biomedical subjects

Bulbul Chakraborty

Publications and source records attributed to Bulbul Chakraborty.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Stress and large-scale spatial structures in dense, driven granular flows.

We study the appearance of large-scale dynamical heterogeneities in a simplified model of a driven, dissipative granular system. Simulations of steady-state gravity-driven flows of inelastically colliding hard disks show the formation of large-scale linear structures of particles with a high collision frequency. These chains can be shown to carry much of the collisional stress in the system due to a dynamical correlation that develops between the momentum transfer and time between collisions in these frequently colliding particles. The lifetime of these dynamical stress heterogeneities is seen to grow as the flow velocity decreases toward jamming, leading to slowly decaying stress correlations reminiscent of the slow dynamics observed in supercooled liquids.

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PubMed2005

Critical dynamics of dimers: implications for the glass transition.

The Adam-Gibbs view of the glass transition relates the relaxation time to the configurational entropy, which goes continuously to zero at the so-called Kauzmann temperature. We examine this scenario in the context of a dimer model with an entropy-vanishing phase transition and stochastic loop dynamics. We propose a coarse-grained master equation for the order parameter dynamics which is used to compute the time-dependent autocorrelation function and the associated relaxation time. Using a combination of exact results, scaling arguments, and numerical diagonalizations of the master equation, we find nonexponential relaxation and a Vogel-Fulcher divergence of the relaxation time in the vicinity of the phase transition. Since in the dimer model the entropy stays finite all the way to the phase transition point and then jumps discontinuously to zero, we demonstrate a clear departure from the Adam-Gibbs scenario. Dimer coverings are the "inherent structures" of the canonical frustrated system, the triangular Ising antiferromagnet. Therefore, our results provide a new scenario for the glass transition in supercooled liquids in terms of inherent structure dynamics.

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PubMed2005

Jamming as a critical phenomenon: a field theory of zero-temperature grain packings.

A field theory of frictionless grain packings in two dimensions is shown to exhibit a zero-temperature critical point at a nonzero value of the packing fraction. The zero-temperature constraint of force balance plays a crucial role in determining the nature of the transition. Two order parameters, , the deviation of the average number of contacts from the isostatic value, and , the average magnitude of the force per contact, characterize the transition from the jammed (high packing fraction) to the unjammed (low packing fraction state). The critical point has a mixed character with the order parameters showing a jump discontinuity but with fluctuations of the contact force diverging. At the critical point, the distribution of phi shows the characteristic plateau observed in static granular piles. The theory makes falsifiable predictions about the spatial fluctuations of the contact forces.

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PubMed2004

Landau-like theory of glassy dynamics.

An exact solution of a Landau model of an order-disorder transition with activated critical dynamics is presented. The model describes a funnel-shaped topology of the order parameter space in which the number of energy lowering trajectories rapidly diminishes as the ordered ground state is approached. This leads to an asymmetry in the effective transition rates which results in a nonexponential relaxation of the order-parameter fluctuations and a Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann divergence of the relaxation times, typical of a glass transition. We argue that the Landau model provides a general framework for studying glassy dynamics in a variety of systems.

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PubMed2002

Aggregate formation in a system of coagulating and fragmenting particles with mass-dependent diffusion rates.

The effect of introducing a mass-dependent diffusion rate approximately m(-alpha) in a model of coagulation with single-particle breakup is studied both analytically and numerically. The model with alpha=0 is known to undergo a nonequilibrium phase transition as the mass density in the system is varied from a phase with an exponential distribution of mass to a phase with a power-law distribution of masses in addition to a single infinite aggregate. This transition is shown to be curbed, at finite densities, for all alpha>0 in any dimension. However, a signature of this transition is seen in finite systems in the form of a large aggregate and the finite-size scaling implications of this are characterized. The exponents characterizing the steady-state probability that a randomly chosen site has mass m are calculated using scaling arguments. The full probability distribution is obtained within a mean-field approximation and found to compare well with the results from numerical simulations in one dimension.

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PubMed2002

Slow dynamics and aging in a nonrandomly frustrated spin system.

A simple, non-disordered spin model has been studied in an effort to understand the origin of the precipitous slowing down of dynamics observed in supercooled liquids approaching the glass transition. A combination of Monte Carlo simulations and exact calculations indicates that this model exhibits an entropy-vanishing transition accompanied by a rapid divergence of time scales. Measurements of various correlation functions show that the system displays a hierarchy of time scales associated with different degrees of freedom. Extended structures, arising from the frustration in the system, are identified as the source of the slow dynamics. In the simulations, the system falls out of equilibrium at a temperature T(g) higher than the entropy-vanishing transition temperature and the dynamics below T(g) exhibits aging as distinct from coarsening. The cooling rate dependence of the energy is also consistent with the usual glass formation scenario.

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