Avalanches, Stick-slip Dynamics, and Extreme-value statistics in dry friction, moving contact line, and cargo transport in living cells
Yusheng Shen2, Caishan Yan2, Hsuan-Yi Chen1, Pik-Yin Lai1,2*, Penger Tong2
1Physics, National Central University, TaoYuan City, Taiwan
2Physics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
* Presenter:Pik-Yin Lai, email:pylai@phy.ncu.edu.tw
Abstract: Stick-slip is a common phenomenon both in nature and in many engineering applications. It is often observed in out-of-equilibrium disordered systems as a yield response to a smoothly varying external force and is characterized by intermittent bursts of irregular signals of different amplitudes, durations, and separations that result from the spontaneous depinning of mechanical contacts or local rearrangement of material bonds. In this talk, I will report our recent theoretical and experimental studies on a variety of systems that exhibit stick-slip motion due to complex interactions. Three systems will be discussed: (i) dry friction between two (rough) solid surfaces in contact, with the frictional force in mesoscale monitored by atomic force microscope[1]; (ii) the depinning dynamics of a circular moving contact line over the rough surface with experiments employing direct atomic force microscopy measurements of a micron-sized vertical hanging glass fiber intersecting a liquid-air interface[2], in which the measured capillary force acting on the contact line exhibits sawtooth-like stick-slip fluctuations; (iii) the dynamics of intracellular vesicle transport across various cell types and intracellular environments. We find that the local maximal force needed for slipping/depinning follows the extreme value statistics, and the measured force drop follows the avalanche dynamics with a power law distribution in good agreement with the Alessandro-Beatrice-Bertotti-Montorsi model or its generalization. The complex stick-slip and avalanches experimental findings are well-described by theoretical models that connect the Brownian-correlated kinetic friction/drag forces. Our results provide an accurate statistical description of the drag/frictional dynamics at the mesoscale, which has important implications for a common class of problems involving stick-slip motion in a rough landscape.
Keywords: contact-line dynamics, friction, molecular motors, extreme-value statistics
References
[1] "Statistical laws of stick-slip friction at mesoscale", C. Yan, H.Y. Chen, Pik-Yin Lai, P. Tong, Nature Comm. 14, 6221 (2023).
[2] "Avalanches and extreme value statistics of a moving contact line", C. Yan, D. Guan, Y. Wang, H.Y. Chen, Pik-Yin Lai, P. Tong, Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 084003 (2024).
[3] "Stick-slip motion and universal statistics of cargo transport within living cells", Y. Shen, C. Yan, P. Huang, K. M. Ori-McKenney, Pik-Yin Lai, and P. Tong, bioRxiv, 2025.05. 19.654995
Keywords: contact-line dynamics , friction, molecular motors, extreme-value statistics