Nonequilibrium dynamics of isostatic spring networks

Area of Science:

• Physics
• Soft Matter Physics
• Statistical Mechanics

Background:

• Marginally stable systems, or isostatic assemblies, display complex critical mechanical behaviors.
• Active systems can be driven, but their critical nature's impact on nonequilibrium dynamics remains poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of isostaticity on the nonequilibrium dynamics of active spring networks.
• To characterize the critical phenomena in these driven systems.

Main Methods:

• Modeling active spring networks with heterogeneous white or colored motorlike noise.
• Quantifying nonequilibrium dynamics using characteristic cycling frequency (ω) of network nodes.
• Employing mean-field theory to approximate critical scaling.

Main Results:

• The system reaches a nonequilibrium steady state driven by noise.
• The distribution of cycling frequencies exhibits critical scaling.
• Scaling behavior of cycling frequency with distance is governed by a diverging length scale.

Conclusions:

• Marginality plays a crucial role in the dynamics of active disordered systems.
• The study provides a theoretical framework for understanding these phenomena.
• Cycling frequency serves as an experimentally accessible measure of phase space currents.