From piles of grains to piles of vortices

TL;DR

This paper draws an analogy between granular piles and superconducting vortices, highlighting similar avalanche dynamics and relaxation behaviors driven by nonlinear interactions and thermal effects.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analogy linking granular physics and superconducting vortex systems, providing insights into their similar macroscopic and relaxation phenomena.

Findings

Both systems exhibit nonlinear avalanche processes maintaining their slopes.

Logarithmic relaxation over time due to thermal or agitational effects.

Analogous behaviors suggest common underlying physics.

Abstract

One of the most thrilling features of Physics is the possibility to establish analogies between apparently distant areas. Here we explain the parallel between a pile of grains interacting mechanically with each other, and a "pile" of superconducting vortices. In both cases the macroscopic slope of the pile is maintained by a very nonlinear avalanche process. Furthermore, both types of piles logarithmically relax in time due to "agitational" or thermal effects, aiming at a state of equilibrium.