Dynamical behavior of granular matter in low gravity (diamagnetic levitation)

Abstract We report studies on the dynamics of macroscopic particles in a low-gravity ‘magnetic levitation’ environment. In a real sense, this allows the investigation of new states of granular matter. Particle ensembles (rods, spheres, or grains) can be held in a weak confining potential due to diamagnetic forces in a high-field-resistive magnet. In such a case ‘ kT ’ is not zero, and assemblies of particles undergo ergodic processes to find the lowest configurational ground state. This new area presents unique problems for video data acquisition and mathematical descriptions of the complex dynamic motions, interactions, and configurations of single and multiple particle assemblies. Three examples of such processes are presented.