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The control and manipulation of filamentary resistive switching (FRS) is essential for practical applications in fields like non-volatile memories and neuromorphic computing. However, key aspects of the dynamics of conductive filament formation and their influence on device resistance remain incompletely understood. In this work we study FRS in binary oxides based memristors by investigating the dynamics of oxygen vacancies (OV) on a two dimensional lattice and their role in forming low-resistance paths that facilitate the transition between high and low global resistance states. We reveal that the mere formation of an OV percolation path is insufficient to induce a transition to a low-resistance state. Instead, an OV concentration exceeding a critical threshold across all sites in the filament is required to generate a low-resistivity conducting path. Furthermore, we simulate the impact of static defects -which block OV migration and would correspond to voids in real porous samples-, on filament formation. We show that there is a range of defect density values where OV percolate through the sample, leading to the formation of OV filaments, but conductive paths remain absent. Additionally, a small concentration of defects can reduce the final value of the low-resistance state, thereby increasing the ON-OFF ratio. These findings provide valuable insights into optimizing defective nanomaterials with memristive properties, which are crucial for advancing in-memory and neuromorphic computing technologies., Comment: 8 figures, 28 pages in preprint form

We perform molecular dynamics simulations of homogeneous athermal systems of poly-disperse soft discs under shear. For purely repulsive interactions between particles, and under a confining external pressure, a monotonous flow curve (strain rate vs. stress) starting at a critical yield stress is obtained, with deformation distributing uniformly in the system, on average. Then we add a short range attractive contribution to the interaction potential that increases its intensity as particles remain in contact for a progressively longer time, mimicking an aging effect into the system. In this case the flow curve acquires a reentrant behavior, namely, a region of negative slope. Within this region the deformation is seen to localize in a shear band with a well defined width that decreases as the global strain rate does. At very low strain rates the shear band becomes very thin and deformation acquires a prominent stick-slip behavior. This regime can be described as the system possessing a fault in which deformation occurs with the phenomenology that characterizes earthquakes. In this way the system we are analyzing connects a regime of uniform deformation at large strain rates, a localized deformation regime in the form of shear bands at intermediate stain rates, and seismic phenomena at very low strain rate. The unifying ingredient of this phenomenology is the existence of a reentrant flow curve, originated in the aging mechanisms present in the model., Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures

We analyze a mesoscopic model of a shear stress material with a three dimensional slab geometry, under an external quasistatic deformation of a simple shear type. Relaxation is introduced in the model as a mechanism by which an unperturbed system achieves progressively mechanically more stable configurations. Although in all cases deformation occurs via localized plastic events (avalanches) we find qualitatively different behavior depending on the degree of relaxation in the model. For no or low relaxation yielding is homogeneous in the sample, and even the largest avalanches become negligible in size compared with the system size (measured as the thickness of the slab $L_z$) when this is increased. On the contrary, for high relaxation the deformation localizes in an almost two dimensional region where all avalanches occur. Scaling analysis of the numerical results indicates that in this case the linear size of the largest avalanches is comparable with $L_z$ even when this becomes very large. We correlate the two scenarios with a qualitative difference in the flow curve of the system in the two cases, which is monotonous in the first case, or of the velocity weakening type in the second case., Comment: 9 pages, 14 figures

We investigate the down-hill creep of a layer of granular material on a slope caused by an oscillatory variation of the size of the particles. The material is modeled as an athermal two dimensional polydisperse system of soft disks under the action of gravity. The slope angle is below the critical rest angle and therefore the system reaches an equilibrium configuration under static external conditions. However, under a protocol in which particles slowly change size in a quasistatic oscillatory way the system is observed to creep down in a synchronized way with the oscillation. We measure the creep advance per cycle as a function of the slope angle and the degree of change in particle size. In addition, we consider a situation in which the particle size oscillation amplitude decreases with depth, as it may be argued to occur in the case of a granular soil in an inclined terrain. In this case creep profiles that are maximum at the surface and smoothly vanish with depth are obtained, as it is observed to occur in the field., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures

We present a two-dimensional mesoscopic model of a yield stress material that includes the possibility of local volume fluctuations coupled to shear, in such a way that the shear strength of the material decreases as the local density decreases. The model reproduces a number of effects well known in the phenomenology of this kind of materials. Particularly, we find that: the volume of the sample increases as the deformation rate increases; shear bands are no longer oriented at 45 $^\circ$ with respect to the principal axis of the applied stress (as in the absence of volume-shear coupling); homogeneous deformation becomes unstable at low enough deformation rates if volume-shear coupling is strong enough. We also analyze the implications of this coupling in the context of out of equilibrium shear bands appearing for instance in metallic glasses., Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures

The yielding transition of amorphous materials is studied with a two-dimensional Hamiltonian model that allows both shear and volume deformations. The model is investigated as a function of the relative value of the bulk modulus $B$ with respect to the shear modulus $\mu$. When the ratio $B/\mu$ is small enough, the yielding transition becomes discontinuous, yet reversible. If the system is driven at constant strain rate in the coexistence region, a spatially localized shear band is observed while the rest of the system remains blocked. The crucial role of volume fluctuations in the origin of this behavior is clarified in a mean field version of the model., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures

The thermal rounding of the depinning transition of an elastic interface sliding on a washboard potential is studied through analytic arguments and very accurate numerical simulations. We confirm the standard view that well below the depinning threshold the average velocity can be calculated considering thermally activated nucleation of forward moving defects. However, we find that the straightforward extension of this analysis to near or above the depinning threshold does not fully describe the physics of the thermally assisted motion. In particular, we find that exactly at the depinning point the average velocity does not follow a pure power-law of the temperature as naively expected by the analogy with standard phase transitions but presents subtle logarithmic corrections. We explain the physical mechanisms behind these corrections and argue that they are non-peculiar collective effects which may also apply to the case of interfaces sliding on uncorrelated disordered landscapes., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures

We use a continuous mesoscopic model to address the yielding properties of plastic composites, formed by a host material and inclusions with different elastic and/or plastic properties. We investigate the flow properties of the composed material under a uniform externally applied deviatoric stress. We show that due to the heterogeneities induced by the inclusions, a scalar modeling in terms of a single deviatoric strain of the same symmetry than the externally applied deformation gives inaccurate results. A realistic modeling must include all possible shear deformations. Implementing this model in a two-dimensional system we show that the effect of harder inclusions is very weak up to relatively high concentrations. For softer inclusions instead, the effect is much stronger, even a small concentration of inclusions affecting the form of the flow curve and the critical stress. We also present the details of a full three dimensional simulation scheme, and obtain the corresponding results, both for harder and softer inclusions., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures

We consider a model of an elastic manifold driven on a disordered energy landscape, with generalized long range elasticity. Varying the form of the elastic kernel by progressively allowing for the existence of zero-modes, the model interpolates smoothly between mean field depinning and finite dimensional yielding. We find that the critical exponents of the model change smoothly in this process. Also, we show that in all cases the Herschel-Buckley exponent of the flowcurve depends on the analytical form of the microscopic pinning potential. This is a compelling indication that within the present elastoplastic description yielding in finite dimension $d\geq 2$ is a mean-field transition., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures

We analyze the behavior of different elastoplastic models approaching the yielding transition. We propose two kind of rules for the local yielding events: yielding occurs above the local threshold either at a constant rate or with a rate that increases as the square root of the stress excess. We establish a family of "static" universal critical exponents which do not depend on this dynamic detail of the model rules: in particular, the exponents for the avalanche size distribution $P(S)\sim S^{-\tau_S}f(S/L^{d_f})$ and the exponents describing the density of sites at the verge of yielding, which we find to be of the form $P(x)\simeq P(0) + x^\theta$ with $P(0)\sim L^{-a}$ controlling the extremal statistics. On the other hand, we discuss "dynamical" exponents that are sensitive to the local yielding rule details. We find that, apart form the dynamical exponent $z$ controlling the duration of avalanches, also the flowcurve's (inverse) Herschel-Bulkley exponent $\beta$ ($\dot\gamma\sim(\sigma-\sigma_c)^\beta$) enters in this category, and is seen to differ in $\frac12$ between the two yielding rate cases. We give analytical support to this numerical observation by calculating the exponent variation in the H\'ebraud-Lequeux model and finding an identical shift. We further discuss an alternative mean-field approximation to yielding only based on the so-called Hurst exponent of the accumulated mechanical noise signal, which gives good predictions for the exponents extracted from simulations of fully spatial models., Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables

The depinning transition of elastic interfaces with an elastic interaction kernel decaying as $1/r^{d+\sigma}$ is characterized by critical exponents which continuously vary with $\sigma$. These exponents are expected to be unique and universal, except in the fully coupled ($-d<\sigma\le 0$) limit, where they depend on the "smooth" or "cuspy" nature of the microscopic pinning potential. By accurately comparing the depinning transition for cuspy and smooth potentials in a specially devised depinning model, we explain such peculiar limit in terms of the vanishing of the critical region for smooth potentials, as we decrease $\sigma$ from the short-range ($\sigma \geq 2$) to the fully coupled case. Our results have practical implications for the determination of critical depinning exponents and identification of depinning universality classes in concrete experimental depinning systems with non-local elasticity, such as contact lines of liquids and fractures., Comment: 12 pages, 15 figures

We investigate numerically the yielding transition of a two dimensional model amorphous solid under external shear. We use a scalar model in terms of values of the total local strain, that we derive from the full (tensorial) description of the elastic interactions in the system, in which plastic deformations are accounted for by introducing a stochastic "plastic disorder" potential. This scalar model is seen to be equivalent to a collection of Prandtl-Tomlinson particles, which are coupled through an Eshelby quadrupolar kernel. Numerical simulations of this scalar model reveal that the strain rate vs stress curve, close to the critical stress, is of the form $\dot\gamma\sim (\sigma-\sigma_c)^\beta$. Remarkably, we find that the value of $\beta$ depends on details of the microscopic plastic potential used, confirming and giving additional support to results previously obtained with the full tensorial model. %\cite{Jagla_Yiel}. To rationalize this result, we argue that the Eshelby interaction in the scalar model can be treated to a good approximation in a sort of "dynamical" mean field, which corresponds to a Prandtl-Tomlinson particle that is driven by the applied strain rate in the presence of a stochastic noise generated by all other particles. The dynamics of this Prandtl-Tomlinson particle displays different values of the $\beta$ exponent depending on the analytical properties of the microscopic potential, thus giving support to the results of the numerical simulations. Moreover, we find that other critical exponents that depend on details of the dynamics show also a dependence with the form of the disorder, while static exponents are independent of the details of the disorder. Finally, we show how our scalar model relates to other elastoplastic models and to the widely used mean field version known as the H\'ebraud-Lequeux model., Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures

Elasto-plastic models are among the most successful ways to study the critical properties of the plastic yielding transition of amorphous solids. Typically these models are studied under a condition of constant transition rates from one plastic configuration to another, and in this form they predict the existence of well defined critical exponents that display universality, in the same sense that in standard equilibrium phase transitions. I show however that very naturally the transition rates must not be taken as a constant, but dependent of the local stress excess above the critical value. This modification in the model is seen to affect the values of some of the exponents of the transition, concretely, of the dynamical exponents that are related to the speed at which the system is driven. I argue about the reason for this dependence, claiming that it is due to the quasi-mean field nature of the plastic yielding transition originated in the fact that elastic interactions are long range., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, 1 table

We consider the classical Prandtl-Tomlinson model of a particle moving on a corrugated potential, pulled by a spring. In the usual situation in which pulling acts at constant velocity $\dot\gamma$, the model displays an average friction force $\sigma$ that relates to $\dot\gamma$ (for small $\dot\gamma)$ as $\dot\gamma\sim (\sigma-\sigma_c)^\beta$, where $\sigma_c$ is a critical friction force. The possible values of $\beta$ are well known in terms of the analytical properties of the corrugated potential. We study here the situation in which the pulling has, in addition to the constant velocity term, a stochastic term of mechanical origin (i.e, the total driving is a function of $\dot\gamma t$). We analytically show how this term modifies the force-velocity dependence close to the critical force, and give the value of $\beta$ in terms of the analytical properties of the corrugation potential and the scaling properties of the stochastic driving, encoded in the value of its Hurst exponent., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures

We study the slow stochastic dynamics near the depinning threshold of an elastic interface in a random medium by solving a particularly suited model of hopping interacting particles that belongs to the quenched-Edwards-Wilkinson depinning universality class. The model allows us to compare the cases of uniformly activated and Arrhenius activated hops. In the former case, the velocity accurately follows a standard scaling law of the force and noise intensity with the analog of the thermal rounding exponent satisfying a modified "hyperscaling" relation. For the Arrhenius activation, we find, both numerically and analytically, that the standard scaling form fails for any value of the thermal rounding exponent. We propose an alternative scaling incorporating logarithmic corrections that appropriately fits the numerical results. We argue that this anomalous scaling is related to the strong correlation between activated hops that, alternated with deterministic depinning-like avalanches, occur below the depinning threshold. We rationalize the spatiotemporal patterns by making an analogy of the present model in the near-threshold creep regime with some well-known models with extremal dynamics, particularly the Bak-Sneppen model., Comment: Fixed typos and updated publication info

We study the yielding transition of a two dimensional amorphous system under shear by using a mesoscopic elasto-plastic model. The model combines a full (tensorial) description of the elastic interactions in the system, and the possibility of structural reaccommodations that are responsible for the plastic behavior. The possible structural reaccommodations are encoded in the form of a "plastic disorder" potential, which is chosen independently at each position of the sample to account for local heterogeneities. We observe that the stress must exceed a critical value $\sigma_c$ in order for the system to yield. In addition, when the system yields a flow curve relating stress $\sigma$ and strain rate $\dot\gamma$ of the form $\dot\gamma \sim(\sigma-\sigma_c)^\beta $ is obtained. Remarkably, we observe the value of $\beta$ to depend on some details of the plastic disorder potential. For smooth potentials a value of $\beta\simeq 2.0$ is obtained, whereas for potentials obtained as a concatenation of smooth pieces a value $\beta\simeq 1.5$ is observed in the simulations. This indicates a dependence of critical behavior on details of the plastic behavior that has not been pointed out before. In addition, by integrating out non-essential, harmonic degrees of freedom, we derive a simplified scalar version of the model that represents a collection of interacting Prandtl-Tomlinson particles. A mean field treatment of this interaction reproduces the difference of $\beta$ exponents for the two classes of plastic disorder potentials, and provides values of $\beta$ that compare favorably with those found in the full simulations., Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures

We present a scaling theory for the effect of thermal fluctuations on the characteristics of the depinning transition, and also in the closely related directed percolation model. Thermal effects act as a sort of external field that produces a rounding of the sharp transition occurring at zero temperature. The theory allows to predict the value of the thermal rounding exponent that quantifies the rounding effect. It also gives insight into the spatial and temporal correlations between thermally activated events, which are highly non-trivial., Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures This presentation has been superseded by arXiv:1704.01489

We analyse by numerical simulations and scaling arguments the avalanche statistics of 1-dimensional elastic interfaces in random media driven at a single point. Both global and local avalanche sizes are power-law distributed, with universal exponents given by the depinning roughness exponent $\zeta$ and the interface dimension $d$, and distinct from their values in the uniformly driven case. A crossover appears between uniformly driven behaviour for small avalanches, and point driven behaviour for large avalanches. The scale of the crossover is controlled by the ratio between the stiffness of the pulling spring and the elasticity of the interface; it is visible both in the global and local avalanche-size distributions, as in the average spatial avalanche shape. Our results are relevant to model experiments involving locally driven elastic manifolds at low temperatures, such as magnetic domain walls or vortex lines in superconductors., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures

We study a system of classical particles in two dimensions interacting through an isotropic pair potential that displays a martensitic phase transition between a triangular and a rhomboidal structure upon the change of a single parameter. Previously it was shown that this potential is able to reproduce the shape memory effect and super-elasticity, among other well known features of the phenomenology of martensites. Here we extend those previous studies and describe the development of the more subtle two-way shape memory effect. We show that in a poly-crystalline sample, the effect can be associated to the existence of retained martensite within the austenite phase. We also study the case of a single crystal sample where the effect is associated to particular orientations of the dislocations, either induced by training or by an ad hoc construction of a starting sample.

I discuss the size distribution ${\cal N}(S)$ of avalanches occurring at the yielding transition of mean field (i.e., Hebraud-Lequeux) models of amorphous solids. The size distribution follows a power law dependence of the form: ${\cal N}(S)\sim S^{-\tau}$. However (contrary to what is found in its depinning counterpart) the value of $\tau$ depends on details of the dynamic protocol used. For random triggering of avalanches I recover the $\tau=3/2$ exponent typical of mean field models, which in particular is valid for the depinning case. However, for the physically relevant case of external loading through a quasistatic increase of applied strain, a smaller exponent (close to 1) is obtained. This result is rationalized by mapping the problem to an effective random walk in the presence of a moving absorbing boundary.

We study the effect of viscoelastic dynamics on the frictional properties of a (mean field) spring-block system pulled on a rough surface by an external drive. When the drive moves at constant velocity V, two dynamical regimes are observed: at fast driving, above a critical threshold Vc, the system slides at the drive velocity and displays a friction force with velocity weakening. Below Vc the steady sliding becomes unstable and a stick-slip regime sets in. In the slide-hold-slide driving protocol, a peak of the friction force appears after the hold time and its amplitude increases with the hold duration. These observations are consistent with the frictional force encoded phenomenologically in the rate-and-state equations. Our model gives a microscopical basis for such macroscopic description., Comment: 10 figures, 7 pages, +4 pages of appendix

We study analytically and by numerical simulations the statistics of the aftershocks generated after large avalanches in models of interface depinning that include viscoelastic relaxation effects. We find in all the analyzed cases that the decay law of aftershocks with time can be understood by considering the typical roughness of the interface and its evolution due to relaxation. In models where there is a single viscoelastic relaxation time there is an exponential decay of the number of aftershocks with time. In models in which viscoelastic relaxation is wave-vector dependent we typically find a power law dependence of the decay rate, compatible with the Omori law. The factors that determine the value of the decay exponent are analyzed.

The movement of a purely elastic interface driven on a disordered energy potential is characterized by a depinning transition: when the pulling force S is larger than some critical value S_1 the system is in a flowing regime and moves at a finite velocity. If S < S_1 the interface remains pinned and its velocity is zero. We show that for a one-dimensional interface, the inclusion of viscoelastic relaxation produces the appearance of an intervening regime between the pinned and the flowing phases in a well defined stress interval S_0 S_0 the creep velocity vanishes in an universal way that is governed by a directed percolation process. As S --> S_1 the creep velocity increases as a power law due to the increase of the typical size of the avalanches. The present observations may serve to improve the understanding of fatigue failure mechanisms., Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures

In many complex systems a continuous input of energy over time can be suddenly relaxed in the form of avalanches. Conventional avalanche models disregard the possibility of internal dynamical effects in the inter-avalanche periods, and thus miss basic features observed in some real systems. We address this issue by studying a model with viscoelastic relaxation, showing how coherent oscillations of the stress field can emerge spontaneously. Remarkably, these oscillations generate avalanche patterns that are similar to those observed in seismic phenomena., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, plus Supplemental Material. Published 30 April 2014

The Drossel-Schwabl model of forest fires can be interpreted in a coarse grained sense as a model for the stress distribution in a single planar fault. Fires in the model are then translated to earthquakes. I show that when a second class of trees that propagate fire only after some finite time is introduced in the model, secondary fires (analogous to aftershocks) are generated, and the statistics of events becomes quantitatively compatible with the Gutenberg Richter law for earthquakes, with a realistic value of the $b$ exponent. The change in exponent is analytically demonstrated in a simplified percolation scenario. Experimental consequences of the proposed mechanism are indicated., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures

We consider the directed percolation process as a prototype of systems displaying a nonequilibrium phase transition into an absorbing state. The model is in a critical state when the activation probability is adjusted at some precise value p_c. Criticality is lost as soon as the probability to activate sites at the first attempt, p1, is changed. We show here that criticality can be restored by "compensating" the change in p1 by an appropriate change of the second time activation probability p2 in the opposite direction. At compensation, we observe that the bulk exponents of the process coincide with those of the normal directed percolation process. However, the spreading exponents are changed, and take values that depend continuously on the pair (p1, p2). We interpret this situation by acknowledging that the model with modified initial probabilities has an infinite number of absorbing states., Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures

We study the frictional behavior of small contacts as those realized in the atomic force microscope and other experimental setups, in the framework of generalized Prandtl-Tomlinson models. Particular attention is paid to mechanisms that generate velocity weakening, namely a decreasing average friction force with the relative sliding velocity.The mechanisms studied model the possibility of viscous relaxation, or aging effects in the contact. It is found that, in addition to producing velocity weakening, these mechanisms can also produce aftershocks at sufficiently low sliding velocities. This provides a remarkable analogy at the microscale, of friction properties at the macroscale, where aftershocks and velocity weakening are two fundamental features of seismic phenomena., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures

We address several questions on the behavior of a numerical model recently introduced to study seismic phenomena, that includes relaxation in the plates as a key ingredient. We make an analysis of the scaling of the largest events with system size, and show that when parameters are appropriately interpreted, the typical size of the largest events scale as the system size, without the necessity to tune any parameter. Secondly, we show that the temporal activity in the model is inherently non-stationary, and obtain from here justification and support for the concept of a "seismic cycle" in the temporal evolution of seismic activity. Finally, we ask for the reasons that make the model display a realistic value of the decaying exponent $b$ in the Gutenberg-Richter law for the avalanche size distribution. We explain why relaxation induces a systematic increase of $b$ from its value $b\simeq 0.4$ observed in the absence of relaxation. However, we have not been able to justify the actual robustness of the model in displaying a consistent $b$ value around the experimentally observed value $b\simeq 1$., Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures

I adapted a model recently introduced in the context of seismic phenomena, to study creep rupture of materials. It consists of linear elastic fibers that interact in an equal load sharing scheme, complemented with a local viscoelastic relaxation mechanism. The model correctly describes the three stages of the creep process, namely an initial Andrade regime of creep relaxation, an intermediate regime of rather constant creep rate, and a tertiary regime of accelerated creep towards final failure of the sample. In the tertiary regime creep rate follows the experimentally observed one over time-to-failure dependence. The time of minimum strain rate is systematically observed to be about 60-65 % of the time to failure, in accordance with experimental observations. In addition, burst size statistics of breaking events display a -3/2 power law for events close to the time of failure, and a steeper decay for the all-time distribution. Statistics of interevent times shows a tendency of the events to cluster temporarily. This behavior should be observable in acoustic emission experiments.

I study a recently proposed statistical model of earthquake dynamics that incorporates aging as a fundamental ingredient. The model is known to generate earthquake sequences that quantitatively reproduce the spatial and temporal clustering of events observed in actual seismic patterns. The aim of the present work is to investigate if this model can give support to the empirical evidence that earthquakes can be triggered by transient small perturbations, particularly by the passing of seismic waves originated in events occurring in far geographical locations. The effect of seismic waves is incorporated into the model by assuming that they produce instantaneous small modifications in the dynamical state of the system at the time they are applied. This change in the dynamical state has two main effects. On one side, it induces earthquakes that occur right at the application of the perturbation. These are called immediate events. On the other side, after the application of the perturbation there is a delayed effect: the seismic activity increases abruptly after the perturbation, then falls down below the level of background activity, and eventually recovers to the background value. The time scale of these variations depends on the internal dynamics of the system, and is totally independent of the duration of the perturbation. The number of delayed events in excess of the background activity is typically observed to be around a factor of twenty larger than the number of immediate events. The origin of the enhanced activity period following the perturbation is associated to the existence of aging relaxation, and it does not occur if relaxation is absent. These findings give support to the experimental evidence that earthquake can be remotely triggered by small transient perturbations as those produced by seismic waves., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, comments welcome

The ubiquitous appearance of regions of localized deformation (shear bands) in different kinds of disordered materials under shear is studied in the context of a mesoscopic model of plasticity. The model may or may not include relaxational (aging) effects. In the absence of relaxational effects the model displays a monotonously increasing dependence of stress on strain-rate, and stationary shear bands do not occur. However, in start up experiments transient (although long lived) shear bands occur, that widen without bound in time. I investigate this transient effect in detail, reproducing and explaining a t^1/2 law for the thickness increase of the shear band that has been obtained in atomistic numerical simulations. Relaxation produces a negative sloped region in the stress vs. strain-rate curve that stabilizes the formation of shear bands of a well defined width, which is a function of strain-rate. Simulations at very low strain-rates reveal a non-trivial stick-slip dynamics of very thin shear bands that has relevance in the study of seismic phenomena. In addition, other non-stationary processes, such as stop-and-go, or strain-rate inversion situations display a phenomenology that matches very well the results of recent experimental studies., Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures

I present a simple model of the time dependence of the contact area between solid bodies, assuming either a totally uncorrelated surface topography, or a self affine surface roughness. The existence of relaxation effects (that I incorporate using a recently proposed model) produces the time increase of the contact area $A(t)$ towards an asymptotic value that can be much smaller than the nominal contact area. For an uncorrelated surface topography, the time evolution of $A(t)$ is numerically found to be well fitted by expressions of the form [$A(\infty)-A(t)]\sim (t+t_0)^{-q}$, where the exponent $q$ depends on the normal load $F_N$ as $q\sim F_N^{\beta}$, with $\beta$ close to 0.5. In particular, when the contact area is much lower than the nominal area I obtain $A(t)/A(0) \sim 1+C\ln(t/t_0+1)$, i.e., a logarithmic time increase of the contact area, in accordance with experimental observations. The logarithmic increase for low loads is also obtained analytically in this case. For the more realistic case of self affine surfaces, the results are qualitatively similar., Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures

An isotropic interaction potential for classical particles is devised in such a way that the crystalline ground state of the system changes discontinuously when some parameter of the potential is varied. Using this potential we model martensitic transformations, and are able to study in detail the processes that are usually associated with it: shape memory effect, superelasticity, as well as many details concerning the dynamics of the transformation, particularly the characteristics of the martensitic texture obtained as a function of parameters affecting the transformation rate. Here we introduce the interaction potentials and present some basic results about the transformation it describes, for the particular case of two dimensional triangular-rombohedral and triangular-square transformation., Comment: 13 pages, 14 figures

We propose and study a modified version of the Olami-Feder-Christiensen model of seismicity, that includes a mechanism of structural relaxation. We obtain realistic features of seismicity that are not obtained with the original version, mainly: aftershocks that obey the Omori law and cluster spatially around the slip surface of the main shock, and averaged frictional properties qualitatively similar to those observed in rock friction, in particular the velocity weakening effect., Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures

The number of earthquakes as a function of magnitude decays as a power law. This trend is usually justified using spring-block models, where slips with the appropriate global statistics have been numerically observed. However, prominent spatial and temporal clustering features of earthquakes are not reproduced by this kind of modeling. We show that when a spring-block model is complemented with a mechanism allowing for structural relaxation, realistic earthquake patterns are obtained. The proposed model does not need to include a phenomenological velocity weakening friction law, as traditional spring-block models do, since this behavior is effectively induced by the relaxational mechanism as well. In this way, the model provides also a simple microscopic basis for the widely used phenomenological rate-and-state equations of rock friction., Comment: 7 pages, 10 figures, comments welcome

I study the average deformation rate of an amorphous material submitted to an external uniform shear strain rate, in the geometry known as the split-bottom configuration. The material is described using a stochastic model of plasticity at a mesoscopic scale. A shear band is observed to start at the split point at the bottom, and widen progressively towards the surface. In a two-dimensional geometry the average statistical properties of the shear band look similar to those of the directed polymer model. In particular, the surface width of the shear band is found to scale with the system height H as H^q with q=0.68 +/- 0.02. In more realistic three dimensional simulations the exponent changes to q=0.60 +/- 0.02 and the bulk profile of the width of the shear band is closer to a quarter of circle, as it was observed to be the case in recent simulations of granular materials., Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures

We explore the possible role of elastic mismatch between epidermis and mesophyll as a driving force for the development of leaf venation. The current prevalent 'canalization' hypothesis for the formation of veins claims that the transport of the hormone auxin out of the leaves triggers cell differentiation to form veins. Although there is evidence that auxin plays a fundamental role in vein formation, the simple canalization mechanism may not be enough to explain some features observed in the vascular system of leaves, in particular, the abundance of vein loops. We present a model based on the existence of mechanical instabilities that leads very naturally to hierarchical patterns with a large number of closed loops. When applied to the structure of high order veins, the numerical results show the same qualitative features as actual venation patterns and, furthermore, have the same statistical properties. We argue that the agreement between actual and simulated patterns provides strong evidence for the role of mechanical effects on venation development., Comment: 10 figures, published in PLoS Computational Biology

Beautiful theories of magnetic hysteresis based on random microscopic disorder have been developed over the past ten years. Our goal was to directly compare these theories with precise experiments. We first developed and then applied coherent x-ray speckle metrology to a series of thin multilayer perpendicular magnetic materials. To directly observe the effects of disorder, we deliberately introduced increasing degrees of disorder into our films. We used coherent x-rays to generate highly speckled magnetic scattering patterns. The apparently random arrangement of the speckles is due to the exact configuration of the magnetic domains in the sample. In effect, each speckle pattern acts as a unique fingerprint for the magnetic domain configuration. Small changes in the domain structure change the speckles, and comparison of the different speckle patterns provides a quantitative determination of how much the domain structure has changed. How is the magnetic domain configuration at one point on the major hysteresis loop related to the configurations at the same point on the loop during subsequent cycles? The microscopic return-point memory(RPM) is partial and imperfect in the disordered samples, and completely absent when the disorder was not present. We found the complementary-point memory(CPM) is also partial and imperfect in the disordered samples and completely absent when the disorder was not present. We found that the RPM is always a little larger than the CPM. We also studied the correlations between the domains within a single ascending or descending loop. We developed new theoretical models that do fit our experiments., Comment: 26 pages, 25 figures, Accepted by Physical Review B 01/25/07

A two dimensional amorphous material is modeled as an assembly of mesoscopic elemental pieces coupled together to form an elastically coherent structure. Plasticity is introduced as the existence of different minima in the energy landscape of the elemental constituents. Upon the application of an external strain rate, the material shears through the appearance of elemental slip events with quadrupolar symmetry. When the energy landscape of the elemental constituents is kept fixed, the slip events distribute uniformly throughout the sample, producing on average a uniform deformation. However, when the energy landscape at different spatial positions can be rearranged dynamically to account for structural relaxation, the system develops inhomogeneous deformation in the form of shear bands at low shear rates, and stick-slip-like motion at the shear bands for the lowest shear rates. The origin of strain localization is traced back to a region of negative correlation between strain rate and stress, which appears only if structural relaxation is present. The model also reproduces other well known effects in the rheology of amorphous materials, as a stress peak in a strain rate controlled experiment staring from rest, and the increase of the maximum of this peak with sample age., Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures

I study numerically the problem of delamination of a thin film elastically attached to a rigid substrate. A nominally flat elastic thin film is modeled using a two-dimensional triangular mesh. Both compression and bending rigidities are included to simulate compression and bending of the film. The film can buckle (i.e., abandon its flat configuration) when enough compressive strain is applied. The possible buckled configurations of a piece of film with stripe geometry are investigated as a function of the compressive strain. It is found that the stable configuration depends strongly on the applied strain and the Poisson ratio of the film. Next, the film is considered to be attached to a rigid substrate by springs that can break when the detaching force exceeds a threshold value, producing the partial delamination of the film. Delamination is induced by a mismatch of the relaxed configurations of film and substrate. The morphology of the delaminated film can be followed and compared with available experimental results as a function of model parameters. `Telephone-cord', polygonal, and `brain-like' patterns qualitatively similar to experimentally observed configurations are obtained in different parameter regions. The main control parameters that select the different patterns are the mismatch between film and substrate and the degree of in-plane relaxation within the unbuckled regions., Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures

We analyze a piece-wise linear elastic model for the propagation of a crack in a stripe geometry under mode III conditions, in the absence of dissipation. The model is continuous in the propagation direction and discrete in the perpendicular direction. The velocity of the crack is a function of the value of the applied strain. We find analytically the value of the propagation velocity close to the Griffith threshold, and close to the strain of uniform breakdown. Contrary to the case of perfectly harmonic behavior up to the fracture point, in the piece-wise linear elastic model the crack velocity is lower than the sound velocity, reaching this limiting value at the strain of uniform breakdown. We complement the analytical results with numerical simulations and find excellent agreement., Comment: 9 pages, 13 figures

We present a non-linear elastic model of a coherent transition with discontinuous volume change in an isotropic solid. The model reproduces the anomalous thermodynamics typical of coherent equilibrium including intrinsic hysteresis (for a pressure driven experiment) and a negative bulk modulus. The novelty of the model is that the statistical mechanics solution can be easily worked out. We find that coherency leads to an infinite-range density--density interaction, which drives classical critical behavior. The pressure width of the hysteresis loop shrinks with increasing temperature, ending at a critical point at a temperature related to the shear modulus. The bulk modulus softens with a 1/2 exponent at the transition even far from the critical point. Many well known features of the phase diagram of Ce and related systems are explained by the model., Comment: Acta Materialia, in press

We consider a model of a thin film elastically attached to a rigid substrate. In the case in which the film expands relative to the substrate and assuming certain non-linear elastic behavior of the film, expansion ridges may appear, in which the material has collapsed, and the density is higher. By studying numerically this process, the possible morphologies of these collapsed regions are presented. They range from circular spots and straight stripes, to wiggle polygonal patterns and ring-shaped domains. The similarity of some of these results with patterns observed in delamination of thin films and bi-phase epitaxial growth is emphasized., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures

We study a lattice model for mode III crack propagation in brittle materials in a stripe geometry at constant applied stretching. Stiffening of the material at large deformation produces supersonic crack propagation. For large stretching the propagation is guided by well developed soliton waves. For low stretching, the crack-tip velocity has a universal dependence on stretching that can be obtained using a simple geometrical argument., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

We study a model of interacting particles in two dimensions to address the relation between crystal-crystal transformations and pressure-induced amorphization. On increasing pressure at very low temperature, our model undergoes a martensitic crystal-crystal transformation. The characteristics of the resulting polycrystalline structure depend on defect density, compression rate, and nucleation and growth barriers. We find two different limiting cases. In one of them the martensite crystals, once nucleated, grow easily perpendicularly to the invariant interface, and the final structure contains large crystals of the different martensite variants. Upon decompression almost every atom returns to its original position, and the original crystal is fully recovered. In the second limiting case, after nucleation the growth of martensite crystals is inhibited by energetic barriers. The final morphology in this case is that of a polycrystal with a very small crystal size. This may be taken to be amorphous if we have only access (as experimentally may be the case) to the angularly averaged structure factor. However, this `X-ray amorphous' material is anisotropic, and this shows up upon decompression, when it recovers the original crystalline structure with an orientation correlated with the one it had prior to compression. The memory effect of this X-ray amorphous material is a natural consequence of the memory effect associated to the underlying martensitic transformation. We suggest that this kind of mechanism is present in many of the experimental observations of the memory glass effect, in which a crystal with the original orientation is recovered from an apparently amorphous sample when pressure is released., Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. B

We model the magnetization of quasi two-dimensional systems with easy perpendicular (z-)axis anisotropy upon change of external magnetic field along z. The model is derived from the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation for magnetization evolution, written in closed form in terms of the z component of the magnetization only. The model includes--in addition to the external field--magnetic exchange, dipolar interactions and structural disorder. The phase diagram in the disorder/interaction strength plane is presented, and the different qualitative regimes are analyzed. The results compare very well with observed experimental hysteresis loops and spatial magnetization patterns, as for instance for the case of Co-Pt multilayers., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures

Using coherent x-ray speckle metrology, we have measured the influence of disorder on major loop return point memory (RPM) and complementary point memory (CPM) for a series of perpendicular anisotropy Co/Pt multilayer films. In the low disorder limit, the domain structures show no memory with field cycling--no RPM and no CPM. With increasing disorder, we observe the onset and the saturation of both the RPM and the CPM. These results provide the first direct ensemble-sensitive experimental study of the effects of varying disorder on microscopic magnetic memory and are compared against the predictions of existing theories., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters in Nov. 2004

I show that a model for the interaction of magnetic domains that includes a short range ferromagnetic and a long range dipolar anti-ferromagnetic interaction reproduces very well many characteristic features of two-dimensional magnetic domain patterns. In particular bubble and stripe phases are obtained, along with polygonal and labyrinthine morphologies. In addition, two puzzling phenomena, namely the so called `memory effect' and the `topological melting' observed experimentally are also qualitatively described. Very similar phenomenology is found in the case in which the model is changed to be represented by the Swift-Hohenberg equation driven by an external orienting field., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures. Version to appear in Phys. Rev. E

We present a continuum model for the propagation of cracks and fractures in brittle materials. The components of the strain tensor $\epsilon$ are the fundamental variables. The evolution equations are based on a free energy that reduces to that of linear elasticity for small $\epsilon$, and accounts for cracks through energy saturation at large values of $\epsilon$. We regularize the model by including terms dependent on gradients of $\epsilon$ in the free energy. No additional fields others than the strain tensor $\epsilon$ are introduced, and then the whole dynamics is perfectly defined. We validate the model in controlled cases, and present a couple of non trivial applications., Comment: Version to appear in PRE, Vol. 71, February, 14 pages, 11 figures

Superficial (two dimensional) crack patterns appear when a thin layer of material elastically attached to a substrate contracts. We study numerically the maturation process undergone by these crack patterns when they are allowed to adapt in order to reduce its energy. The process models the evolution in depth of cracks in geological formations and in starch samples (`columnar jointing'), and also the time evolution (over thousands of years) of crack patterns in frozen soils. We observe an evolution towards a polygonal pattern that consist of a fixed distribution of polygons with mainly five, six and seven sides. They compare very well with known experimental examples. The evolution of one of these `mature' patterns upon reduction of the degree of contraction is also considered. We find that the pattern adapts by closing some of the cracks and rearranging those in the immediate neighborhood. This produces a change of the mean size of the polygons, but remarkably no changes of the statistical properties of the pattern. Comparison with the same behavior recently observed in starch samples is presented., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures