Edwards' measures for powders and glasses

Can one construct a thermodynamics for compact, slowly moving powders and g rains? A few years ago, Edwards proposed a possible step in this direction, raising the fascinating perspective that such systems have a statistical m echanics of their own, different from that of Maxwell, Boltzmann, and Gibbs , allowing us to have some information while still ignoring dynamic details . Recent developments in the theory of glasses have come to confirm these i deas within mean field. in order to go beyond, we explicitly generate Edwar ds' measure in a 3D model. Comparison of the results with the irreversible compaction data shows very good agreement. The present framework immediatel y suggests new experimental checks.