Granular segregation as a critical phenomenon.

We present the results of an experimental study of patterned segregation in a horizontally shaken shallow layer of a binary mixture of dry particles. An order parameter for the segregated domains is defined and the effect of the variation of the combined filling fraction, C, of the mixture on the observed pattern formation is systematically studied. We find that there is a critical event associated with the onset of segregation, at C(c)=0.647+/-0.049, which has the characteristics of a continuous phase transition, including critical slowing down.