Noise-induced kink propagation in shallow granular layers

Abstract

Out of equilibrium systems are characterized by exhibiting the coexistence of domains with complex spatiotemporal dynamics. Here, we investigate experimentally the noise-induced domain wall propagation on a one-dimensional shallow granular layer subjected to an air flow oscillating in time. We present results of the appearance of an effective drift as a function of the inclination of the experimental cell, which can be understood using a simple Langevin model to describe the dynamical evolution of these solutions via its pinning-depinning transition. The statistical characterization of displacements of the granular kink position is performed. The dynamics of the stochastic model shows a fairly good agreement with the experimental observations.