{
  "id": "cond-mat/9612095",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "1996-12-10T19:46:28.000Z",
  "updated": "1996-12-10T19:46:28.000Z",
  "title": "First-Order Transition in the Breakdown of Disordered Media",
  "authors": [
    "Stefano Zapperi",
    "Purusattam Ray",
    "H. Eugene Stanley",
    "Alessandro Vespignani"
  ],
  "comment": "4 RevTeX pages, 3 postscript figures",
  "doi": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.1408",
  "categories": [
    "cond-mat.stat-mech",
    "cond-mat.mtrl-sci"
  ],
  "abstract": "We study the approach to global breakdown in disordered media driven by increasing external forces. We first analyze the problem by mean-field theory, showing that the failure process can be described as a first-order phase transition, similarly to the case of thermally activated fracture in homogeneous media. Then we quantitatively confirm the predictions of the mean-field theory using numerical simulations of discrete models. Widely distributed avalanches and the corresponding mean-field scaling are explained by the long-range nature of elastic interactions. We discuss the analogy of our results to driven disordered first-order transitions and spinodal nucleation in magnetic systems.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "1996-12-10T19:46:28.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "mean-field theory",
      "first-order phase transition",
      "driven disordered first-order transitions",
      "external forces",
      "first analyze"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "journal article"
    ],
    "publication": {
      "publisher": "APS",
      "journal": "Phys. Rev. Lett."
    },
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "RevTeX",
      "pages": 0,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable"
    }
  }
}