Unified view of avalanche criticality in sheared glasses

Plastic events in sheared glasses are considered an example of so-called avalanches, whose sizes obey a powerlaw probability distribution with the avalanche critical exponent tau. Although the so-called mean-field depinning (MFD) theory predicts a universal value of this exponent, tau MFD = 1.5, such a simplification is now known to connote qualitative disagreement with realistic systems. Numerically and experimentally, different values of tau have been reported depending on the literature. Moreover, in the elastic regime, it has been noted that the critical exponent can be different from that in the steady state, and even criticality itself is a matter of debate. Because these confusingly varying results have been reported under different setups, our knowledge of avalanche criticality in sheared glasses is greatly limited. To gain a unified understanding, in this work, we conduct a comprehensive numerical investigation of avalanches in Lennard-Jones glasses under athermal quasistatic shear. In particular, by excluding the ambiguity and arbitrariness that has crept into the conventional measurement schemes, we achieve high-precision measurement and demonstrate that the exponent tau in the steady state follows the prediction of MFD theory, tau MFD = 1.5. Our results also suggest that there are two qualitatively different avalanche events. This binariness leads to the nonuniversal behavior of the avalanche size distribution and is likely to be the cause of the varying values of tau reported thus far. To investigate the dependence of criticality and universality on applied shear, we further study the statistics of avalanches in the elastic regime and the ensemble of the first avalanche event in different samples, which provide information about the unperturbed system. We show that while the unperturbed system is indeed off-critical, criticality gradually develops as shear is applied. The degree of criticality is encoded in the fractal dimension of the avalanches, which starts from zero in the off-critical unperturbed state and saturates in the steady state. Moreover, the critical exponent tau is consistent with the prediction of the MFD tau MFDuniversally, regardless of the amount of applied shear, once the system becomes critical.

Automated summary

The study reveals the presence of different avalanche events in sheared glasses, leading to nonuniversal behavior in the avalanche size distribution, with the critical exponent tau matching the prediction of MFD theory. As shear is applied, the system gradually transitions into a critical state.