title: Geometric order parameters derived from the Voronoi tessellation show signatures of the jamming transition.
abstract: A jammed packing of frictionless spheres at zero temperature is perfectly specified by the network of contact forces from which mechanical properties can be derived. However, we can alternatively consider a packing as a geometric structure, characterized by a Voronoi tessellation which encodes the local environment around each particle. We find that this local environment characterizes systems both above and below jamming and changes markedly at the transition. A variety of order parameters derived from this tessellation carry signatures of the jamming transition, complete with scaling exponents. Furthermore, we define a real space geometric correlation function which also displays a signature of jamming. Taken together, these results demonstrate the validity and usefulness of a purely geometric approach to jamming.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Materials Science Institute, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA. peterm@uoregon.edu.
authors.forename: Peter K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Morse
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Materials Science Institute, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA. ecorwin@uoregon.edu.
authors.forename: Eric I
authors.initials: EI
authors.lastname: Corwin