Muhittin Mungan

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We consider a one-dimensional model that describes the depinning of an
elastic chain of particles in a strongly pinning, phase-disordered periodic
environment under a slowly increasing driving force. The evolution towards
depinning occurs by the triggering of avalanches in regions of activity
which are at first isolated, but later grow and merge. For large system
sizes the dynamically critical behavior is dominated by the coagulation of
these active regions. Our analysis and numerical simulations show that the
evolution of the sizes of active regions is well described by a Smoluchowski
coagulation equation, allowing us to predict correlation lengths and
avalanche sizes in terms of certain moments of the size distribution. Time
permitting, we will also briefly present work in progress on the thermal
behaviour of the model.

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Bogazici University and Bonn University
TP seminar room 0.03
Contact: Joachim Krug