# Intermittent "Turbulence" in a Many-body System

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how intermittent, turbulence-like dynamics can emerge in a driven many-body particle system with polydispersity, revealing a minimal model and a key dimensionless parameter analogous to Reynolds number.

## Contribution

It introduces a minimal model showing turbulence-like intermittency in a crystalline particle system driven by noise, highlighting the role of polydispersity and a new dimensionless number.

## Key findings

- Localized vibrational modes lead to phase transition.
- System exhibits quasi-cyclic oscillations.
- A single dimensionless number captures intermittent dynamics.

## Abstract

In natural settings, intermittent dynamics are ubiquitous and often arise from a coupling between external driving and spatial heterogeneities. A well-known example is the generation of transient, turbulent puffs of fluid through a pipe with rough walls. Here we show how similar dynamics can emerge in a discrete, crystalline system of particles driven by noise. Polydispersity in particle masses leads to localized vibrational modes that effectuate a transition to a gas-like phase. A minimal model for the evolution of the system's mechanical energies exhibits quasi-cyclic oscillations, and a single, dimensionless number captures the essential features of the intermittent dynamics, analogous to the Reynolds number for pipe flow.