Direct Measurement of Dipoles in Anomalous Elasticity of Amorphous Solids

TL;DR

This paper provides direct, assumption-free measurements of dipole fields in amorphous solids, confirming recent theories and linking dipole measurements to mechanical response profiles through simulations and experiments.

Contribution

It offers the first direct measurement of dipole fields in amorphous solids and validates the theoretical predictions with experimental and simulation data.

Findings

Direct measurement of dipole fields agrees with theory.

Dipole fields influence the displacement response.

Measurements identify key parameters of the theory.

Abstract

Recent progress in studying the physics of amorphous solids has revealed that mechanical strains can be strongly screened by the formation of plastic events that are typically quadrupolar in nature. The theory stipulated that gradients in the density of the quadrupoles act as emergent dipole sources, leading to strong screening and to qualitative changes in the mechanical response, as seen for example in the displacement field. In this Letter we firstly offer direct measurements of the dipole field, independently of any theoretical assumptions, and secondly we demonstrate detailed agreement with the recently proposed theory. These two goals are achieved using data from both simulations and experiments. Finally we show how measurements of the dipole fields pinpoint the theory parameters that determine the profile of the displacement field.