Abstract of the poster "From micellar solutions to granular suspensions"
The kinetics of the relaxation processes in micellar solutions, composed of surfactant molecules, is a long-standing problem in statistical physics of non-equilibrium systems. A variation of temperature, pressure or surfactant concentration may lead to a considerable re-organization of micellar aggregates and their geometrical configurations (e.g., formation of spherical or cylindrical micelles, bi-layers, etc). An advanced numerical technique to resolve the kinetic equations describing relaxation processes in a model micellar solution has been proposed. In particular, three characteristic relaxation times have been found and then related to different physico-chemical mechanisms. These relaxation times may provide a useful information about the behavior of the micellar system and the internal structure of molecular aggregates in it. These results were obtained during my PhD thesis at Saint Petersburg State University (Russia). When the particles forming aggregates become much bigger (e.g., sand grains or spherical beads), a new kind of geometrical re-organization can be observed. The kinetics of such granular suspensions is now being studied by our group in Naples. For this purpose, a completely different numerical technique is being developed The molecular dynamics simulations should allow us to reproduce and better understand a number of recent experimental observations in this field. In particular, a jamming transition under shearing of granular media with a constant force is being thoroughly investigated.