Effective Temperature Dynamics in an Athermal Amorphous Plasticity Theory

Recent developments in the theory of amorphous plasticity point to the central role played by the concept of an effective disorder temperature $T_{eff}$. An athermal dynamics for $T_{eff}$ are proposed in the framework of a deformation theory and discussed in light of the recent steady state simulations by Haxton and Liu [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 99}, 195701 (2007)]. The structure of the resulting theory, its parameters and transient dynamics are discussed and compared to available data.