Collective behavior in a granular jet: emergence of a liquid with zero surface tension.
We perform the analog to "water bell" experiments with granular jets. Rebounding from cylindrical targets, wide granular jets produce sheets or cones with shapes that mimic a zero-surface-tension liquid. The jets' particulate nature appears when the number of particles in the cross section is decreased: the emerging structures broaden, gradually disintegrating into diffuse sprays. The experiment has a counterpart in the behavior of quark-gluon plasmas generated by colliding heavy ions. There, a high collision density gives rise to collective behavior also described as a liquid.
Cheng
Xiang
X
The James Franck Institute and Department of Physics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
Varas
German
G
Citron
Daniel
D
Jaeger
Heinrich M
HM
Nagel
Sidney R
SR