  The frictional properties of disordered systems are affected by external
perturbations. These perturbations usually weaken the system by reducing the
macroscopic friction coefficient. This friction reduction is of particular
interest in the case of disordered systems composed of granular particles
confined between two plates, as this is a simple model of seismic fault.
Indeed, in the geophysical context frictional weakening could explain the
unexpected weakness of some faults, as well as earthquake remote triggering. In
this manuscript we review recent results concerning the response of confined
granular systems to external perturbations, considering the different
mechanisms by which the perturbation could weaken a system, the relevance of
the frictional reduction to earthquakes, as well as discussing the intriguing
scenario whereby the weakening is not monotonic in the perturbation frequency,
so that a re-entrant transition is observed, as the system first enters a
fluidized state and then returns to a frictional state.
