Anharmonic and quasi-localized vibrations in jammed solids —Modes for mechanical failure

¹  Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China - Hefei 230026, PRC
²  Instituut-Lorentz, Universiteit Leiden - Postbus 9506, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands, EU
³  Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
⁴  The James Frank Institute, The University of Chicago - Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Corresponding author: ningxu@ustc.edu.cn

Received: 22 September 2009
Accepted: 26 May 2010

Abstract

We study harmonic and anharmonic properties of the vibrational modes in 3-dimensional jammed packings of frictionless spheres interacting via repulsive, finite-range potentials. A crossover frequency is apparent in the density of states, the diffusivity and the participation ratio of the normal modes of vibration. At this frequency, which shifts to zero at the jamming threshold, the vibrational modes have a very small participation ratio implying that the modes are quasi-localized. The lowest-frequency modes are the most anharmonic, with the strongest response to pressure and the lowest-energy barriers to mechanical failure.