Swirling granular solidlike clusters

Experiments and three-dimensional numerical simulations are presented to elucidate the dynamics of granular material in a cylindrical dish driven by a horizontal, periodic motion. The following phenomena are obtained both in the experiments and in the simulations: First, for large particle numbers N the particles describe hypocycloidal trajectories. In this state the particles are embedded in a solidlike cluster (“pancake”) which counter-rotates with respect to the external driving (reptation). Self-organization within the cluster occurs such that the probability distribution of the particles consists of concentric rings. Second, the system undergoes phase transitions. These can be identified by changes of the quantity dE_kin/dN (E_kin is the mean kinetic energy) between zero (rotation), positive (reptation), and negative values (appearance of the totality of concentric rings).