Ricerc@Sapienza

The complex dynamical features exhibited by amorphous solids and supercooled liquids have been amply studied in the last decades. However, there are many properties still to be explained, most poignantly the mechanism behind their heterogeneous dynamics and its link, if any, with the local structure of a given configuration. In this work, we plan to investigate this connection using systems close to their jamming point and using the information provided by the network of contact forces that is formed at such point. Our goal will be to find simple and physically sound observables that nonetheless are able to convey statistical information about the trajectories of individual particles. To generate these trajectories we will use, on the one hand, Molecular Dynamics simulations, and on the other, Monte Carlo algorithms. In this way, we will also study the effect of changing the dynamical protocol. Since our starting point will be the network of contacts at jamming, which by itself is a well defined physical entity, we will be able provide a link between the statics and the dynamics of amorphous solids, that we expect to be valid at least for short times.