Viscoelastic Effects in Avalanche Dynamics: A Key to Earthquake Statistics

E. A. Jagla, François P. Landes, Alberto Rosso
2014 Physical Review Letters  
In many complex systems a continuous input of energy over time can be suddenly relaxed in the form of avalanches. Conventional avalanche models disregard the possibility of internal dynamical effects in the inter-avalanche periods, and thus miss basic features observed in some real systems. We address this issue by studying a model with viscoelastic relaxation, showing how coherent oscillations of the stress field can emerge spontaneously. Remarkably, these oscillations generate avalanche
more » ... ns that are similar to those observed in seismic phenomena.
doi:10.1103/physrevlett.112.174301 pmid:24836251 fatcat:m3r6vm2spzcbzabrhfjnh5dgb4