Bond percolation in higher dimensions

Local stability of spheres via the convex hull and the radical Voronoi diagram

Jamming is an emergent phenomenon wherein the local stability of individual particles percolates to form a globally rigid structure. However, the onset of rigidity does not imply that every particle becomes rigid, and indeed some remain locally unstable. These particles, if they become unmoored from their neighbors, are called rattlers, and their identification is critical to understanding the rigid backbone of a packing, as these particles cannot bear stress. The accurate identification of rattlers, however, can be a time-consuming process, and the currently accepted method lacks a simple geometric interpretation. In this manuscript, we propose two simpler classifications of rattlers in hard sphere systems based on the convex hull of contacting neighbors and the maximum inscribed sphere of the radical Voronoi cell, each of which provides geometric insight into the source of their instability. Furthermore, the convex hull formulation can be generalized to explore stability in hyperstatic soft sphere packings, spring networks, nonspherical packings, and mean-field non-central-force potentials.

Geometric signatures of jamming in the mechanical vacuum

Jamming has traditionally been studied as a mechanical phenomenon and characterized with mechanical order parameters. However, this approach is not meaningful in the "mechanical vacuum" of systems below jamming in which all mechanical properties are precisely zero. We find that the network of nearest neighbors and the geometric structure of the Voronoi cell contain well-defined and meaningful order parameters for jamming, which exist on both sides of the transition. We observe critical exponents in these order parameters and an upper critical dimension of 3. Further, we present evidence for a new incipient-jamming phase below the jamming transition marked by additional symmetry in the Voronoi tessellation.