Swirling granular solidlike clusters

Experiments and three-dimensional numerical simulations are presented to el ucidate 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 parti cles 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 transition s. 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).