Dynamical heterogeneities of thermal creep in pinned interfaces

TL;DR

This paper proposes a unified scaling framework for understanding thermal creep heterogeneities in disordered systems, linking phenomena in pinned interfaces and glassy liquids, supported by model validation and experimental implications.

Contribution

It introduces a unifying scaling description for dynamical heterogeneities in thermal creep across different disordered systems, validated through simple models.

Findings

Scaling description unifies phenomena in pinned interfaces and glassy liquids.

Model simulations confirm the proposed scaling framework.

Discussion of experimental implications for material rupture and glass transition.

Abstract

Disordered systems under applied loading display slow creep flows at finite temperature, which can lead to the material rupture. Renormalization group arguments predicted that creep proceeds via thermal avalanches of activated events. Recently, thermal avalanches were argued to control the dynamics of liquids near their glass transition. Both theoretical approaches are markedly different. Here we provide a scaling description that seeks to unify dynamical heterogeneities in both phenomena, confirm it in simple models of pinned elastic interfaces, and discuss its experimental implications.