title: Polymerlike statistical characterization of two-dimensional granular chains.
abstract: Statistical behaviors of packing collections of granular chains in a two-dimensional container have been investigated experimentally. On compaction from their own gravity, the longer chains pack into a structure with lower packing density due to the prevalence of backbone loops. The packing of chains can be considered as the jamming of the granular system. The structure factor of packing chains shows scaling behavior g(q)∼q(-2) in good agreement with dense polymer solutions. In addition, we compute various probability distributions of distances and estimate three crucial contact exponents, finding that the scaling behavior from granular chains is in accord with the theoretical expectation of polymers. Finally, an orientational anticorrelation of granular chains is observed by bond-bond correlation function, which agrees with the results in the two-dimensional model of compact polymers.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cluster Science of Ministry of Education and Department of Physics, Beijing Institute of Technology, 100081 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ping-Ping
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Liang-Sheng
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Heng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Qing-Fan
authors.initials: QF
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids; D011108:Polymers