Numerical study of the microscopic structure of jammed systems: from inferring their dynamics to finite size scaling

TL;DR

This thesis investigates the microscopic structure and dynamics of jammed systems of frictionless spheres, analyzing contact force distributions, particle gaps, and behavior near the jamming transition, with new insights and detailed analysis.

Contribution

It provides new detailed analyses of microscopic properties and dynamics of jammed packings, including novel results on contact forces and interparticle gaps near jamming.

Findings

Distribution of contact forces analyzed

Interparticle gaps characterized near jamming

Single particle dynamics near the jamming point

Abstract

In this thesis I present most of the results obtained during my PhD, where I worked on different subjects regarding jamming in systems of frictionless spheres. In particular, I focused on microscopic properties of jammed packings, such as the distribution of contact forces and interparticle gaps, as well as the single particle dynamics that occur near the jamming point. Several of these results have already been presented in Refs. [1,2], but here I include a more detailed analysis of some of them. Besides, all the results of the second chapter are new, even if related to such works.