title: Possible test of the thermodynamic approach to granular media.
abstract: We study the steady state distribution of the energy of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model driven by a tapping mechanism which mimics the mechanically driven dynamics of granular media. The dynamics consists of two phases: a zero temperature relaxation phase which leads the system to a metastable state, then a tapping which excites the system thus reactivating the relaxational dynamics. Numerically, we investigate whether the distribution of the energies of the blocked states obtained agrees with a simple canonical form of the Edwards measure. It is found that this canonical measure is in good agreement with the dynamically measured energy distribution. A possible experimental test of the Edwards measure based on the study here is proposed.
authors.affiliation: IRSAMC, Laboratoire de Physique Quantique, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Dean
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lefèvre