Crackling Noise during Slow Relaxations in Crumpled Sheets

The statistics of noise emitted by ultrathin crumpled sheets is measured while they exhibit logarithmic relaxations under load. We find that the logarithmic relaxation advanced via a series of discrete, audible, micromechanical events that are log-Poisson distributed (i.e., the process becomes a Poisson process when time stamps are replaced by their logarithms). The analysis places constraints on the possible mechanisms underlying the glasslike slow relaxation and memory retention in these systems.