Universality Class of the Reversible-Irreversible Transition in Sheared Suspensions

TL;DR

This paper models the reversible-irreversible transition in sheared suspensions, proposing it belongs to the conserved directed percolation universality class, and predicts observable scaling behaviors, highlighting a novel phase transition outside conventional classes.

Contribution

It introduces a simple model linking the transition to the conserved DP universality class, providing new insights into the phase transition in sheared suspensions.

Findings

Transition belongs to the conserved DP universality class.

Predicts scaling behavior of experimental observables.

First experimental realization outside conventional directed percolation.

Abstract

Collections of non-Brownian particles suspended in a viscous fluid and subjected to oscillatory shear at very low Reynolds number have recently been shown to exhibit a remarkable dynamical phase transition separating reversible from irreversible behaviour as the strain amplitude or volume fraction are increased. We present a simple model for this phenomenon, based on which we argue that this transition lies in the universality class of the conserved DP models or, equivalently, the Manna model. This leads to predictions for the scaling behaviour of a large number of experimental observables. Non-Brownian suspensions under oscillatory shear may thus constitute the first experimental realization of an inactive-active phase transition which is not in the universality class of conventional directed percolation.