Viscoelastic Depinning of Driven Systems: Mean-Field Plastic Scallops

TL;DR

This paper studies the mean field dynamics of a viscoelastic medium driven through disorder, revealing different depinning behaviors and instabilities relevant for vortex arrays in superconductors.

Contribution

It introduces a new mean field model that captures coexistence of pinned and sliding states, showing elastic and hysteretic depinning phenomena.

Findings

Identification of mean field instabilities causing stick-slip events

Demonstration of continuous elastic and first order hysteretic depinning

Relevance to vortex dynamics in superconductors

Abstract

We have investigated the mean field dynamics of an overdamped viscoelastic medium driven through quenched disorder. The model introduced incorporates coexistence of pinned and sliding degrees of freedom and can exhibit continuous elastic depinning or first order hysteretic depinning. Numerical simulations indicate mean field instabilities that correspond to macroscopic stick-slip events and lead to premature switching. The model is relevant for the dynamics of driven vortex arrays in superconductors and other extended disordered systems.