Central-Force Models Which Exhibit a Splay-Rigid Phase
Penn collection
Degree type
Discipline
Subject
Funder
Grant number
License
Copyright date
Distributor
Related resources
Author
Contributor
Abstract
Two models, one random the other periodic, are described which exhibit splay rigidity but are not rigid with respect to compression. The random model is based on a periodic lattice of rhombuses whose sides consist of central-force springs, which is perturbed in the following way: rhombuses can have diagonal central force struts with probability y or they can have one of the horizontal springs removed with probability x. For x,y≪1 we are led to consider a long-ranged anisotropic percolation process which is solved exactly on a Cayley tree. We show that for y/x near 2 the compressional rigidity of this system is zero but the Frank elastic constant, K, describing splay rigidity is nonzero. This is the first example of a percolation model for which this phenomenon, suggested earlier, is conclusively established. For y/x≳2 √2 the system has nonzero bulk and shear moduli. We also study the excitation spectrum for a periodic model which possesses only splay rigidity and obtain a libron dispersion relation ω=cSq, where q is the wave vector and cS∼(K/ρ)1/2, where ρ is the mass density. These results are generalized to obtain a scaling form for cS and the density of states of the random model which is valid when the correlation length for compressional rigidity becomes large.