This review summarizes theoretical progress in the field of active matter, placing it in the
context of recent experiments. This approach offers a unified framework for the mechanical …

Granular materials are ubiquitous in our daily lives. While they have been the subject of
intensive engineering research for centuries, in the last two decades granular matter has …

Uncovering grain-scale mechanisms that underlie the disorder–order transition in
assemblies of dissipative, athermal particles is a fundamental problem with technological …

We are used to measuring temperature with a thermometer, and we know from everyday life
that different types of thermometers measure the same temperature. This experience can be …

We report an experimental investigation of the transition from a hexagonally ordered solid
phase to a disordered liquid in a monolayer of vibrated spheres. The transition occurs as the …

Absorbing phase transitions (APTs) are widespread in nonequilibrium systems, spanning
condensed matter, epidemics, earthquakes, ecology, and chemical reactions. APTs feature …

The theory of non-ideal gases at thermodynamic equilibrium, for instance the van der Waals
gas model, has played a central role in our understanding of coexisting phases, as well as …

We describe a series of experiments and computer simulations on vibrated granular media
in a geometry chosen to eliminate gravitationally induced settling. The system consists of a …

If two phases exist at the same time, such as a gas and a liquid, they have the same
temperature. This fundamental law of equilibrium physics is known to apply even to many …

We present an experimental study of density and order fluctuations in the vicinity of the solid-
liquid-like transition that occurs in a vibrated quasi-two-dimensional granular system. The …