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A universal state and its relaxation mechanisms of long-range interacting polygons

Author

Listed:
  • Hongchuan Shen

    (Fudan University
    The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

  • Hua Tong

    (University of Tokyo)

  • Peng Tan

    (Fudan University)

  • Lei Xu

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Abstract

Using polygonal magnetic particles, we conduct experiments to explore the space-filling properties of anisotropic blocks with long-range interactions. In contrast to previous studies, we obtain the surprising finding that our systems’ structures do not depend on the shape of building blocks: a single state, the hexagonal plastic crystal, appears as a universal attractor for a wide range of different polygons. This robust particle-shape independency appears as the interactions go beyond nearest neighbors. Particle shape plays an essential role in system relaxation, and determines the basic relaxation dynamics through a microscopic control parameter, internal roughness, produced by particle vertices. Thus our study reveals a new pattern-forming paradigm, in which particle shape plays little role in the static structure but determines the essential relaxation dynamics. Due to the ubiquity of long-range interactions and anisotropic building blocks, our discovery may shed new light on diverse problems involving structure formation, self-assembly, and packing.

Suggested Citation

  • Hongchuan Shen & Hua Tong & Peng Tan & Lei Xu, 2019. "A universal state and its relaxation mechanisms of long-range interacting polygons," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-09795-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09795-6
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