Solidity of viscous liquids II: Anisotropic flow events

TL;DR

This paper extends previous work on isotropic flow events in viscous liquids to anisotropic cases, introducing a dimensionless number that characterizes the anisotropy of flow events.

Contribution

It generalizes the understanding of flow events in viscous liquids by analyzing anisotropic displacements and defining a new anisotropy measure.

Findings

Flow events exhibit measurable anisotropic displacements.

A dimensionless number characterizes the degree of anisotropy.

Theoretical framework extends previous isotropic flow models.

Abstract

Recent findings on the displacements in the surroundings of isotropic flow events in viscous liquids [Phys. Rev. E, to appear Feb. 1999] are generalized to the anisotropic case. Also, it is shown that a flow event is characterized by a dimensionless number reflecting the degree of anisotropy.