Universal description of viscoelasticity with foliation preserving diffeomorphisms

Abstract

We review our recent proposal for a universal description of generic single-component viscoelastic systems with a single relaxation time. Foliation preserving diffeomorphisms are introduced as an underlying symmetry which naturally interpolates between the two extreme characters of elasticity and fluidity. The symmetry is found to be powerful enough to determine the dynamics in the first order of strains.

10 pages, 8 figures, LaTeX2e; contribution to the Proceedings of "Quantum Theory and Symmetries (QTS6)", Lexington, July 20-25, 2009