Topological Origins of Yielding in Soft Glassy Materials

Explore the topological origins of yielding in soft glassy materials through this 37-minute conference talk delivered by Safa Jamali at the Erwin Schrödinger International Institute for Mathematics and Physics (ESI). Delve into the complex world of soft materials and their unique ability to exhibit yield stress, resulting in elasto-visco-plastic mechanics. Discover how network science tools can be applied to better understand the topology of plastic events in colloidal gels, serving as a model for soft glassy materials during yielding. Learn about the challenges in predicting failure points due to dynamic structure development and its interaction with local rearrangements and anisotropy. Gain insights into the universal predictor for yielding across various state variables, including volume fraction of solids, strength, and range of attraction between colloids, using edge betweenness centrality. This talk was part of the Thematic Programme on "Non-equilibrium Processes in Physics and Biology" held at the ESI from August 19 to October 11, 2024.