A possible experimental test of the thermodynamic approach to granular media

TL;DR

This paper investigates whether the energy distribution in a driven spin glass model aligns with the Edwards measure, proposing an experimental test to validate the thermodynamic approach to granular media.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the Edwards measure accurately describes the energy distribution in a driven spin glass model, suggesting a way to experimentally test the thermodynamic theory of granular media.

Findings

The energy distribution matches the Edwards measure.

The Edwards measure provides a good approximation of the blocked states.

An experimental test for the Edwards measure is proposed.

Abstract

We study the steady state distribution of the energy of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model driven by a tapping mechanism which mimics the mechanically driven dynamics of granular media. The dynamics consists of two phases: a zero temperature relaxation phase which leads the system to a metastable state, then a tapping which excites the system thus reactivating the relaxational dynamics. Numerically we investigate whether the distribution of the energies of the blocked states obtained agrees with a simple canonical form of the Edwards measure. It is found that this canonical measure is in good agreement with the dynamically measured energy distribution. A possible experimental test of the Edwards measure based on the study here is proposed.