Edwards' Measures for Powders and Glasses

Abstract

Can one construct a thermodynamics for compact, slowly moving powders and grains? A few years ago, Edwards proposed a possible step in this direction, raising the fascinating perspective that such systems have a statistical mechanics of their own, different from that of Maxwell, Boltzmann, and Gibbs, allowing us to have some information while still ignoring dynamic details. Recent developments in the theory of glasses have come to confirm these ideas within mean field. In order to go beyond, we explicitly generate Edwards' measure in a 3D model. Comparison of the results with the irreversible compaction data shows very good agreement. The present framework immediately suggests new experimental checks.