Dry Friction due to Adsorbed Molecules

Using an adiabatic approximation method, which searches for Tomlinson model-like instabilities for a simple but still realistic model for two crystalline surfaces in the extremely light contact limit, with mobile molecules present at the interface, sliding relative to each other, we are able to account for the virtually universal occurrence of "dry friction." The model makes important predictions for the dependence of friction on the strength of the interaction of each surface with the mobile molecules.Comment: four pages of latex, figure provide

Mode-coupling theory for reaction dynamics in liquids

A theory for chemical reaction dynamics in condensed phase systems based on the generalized Langevin formalism of Grote and Hynes is presented. A microscopic approach to calculate the dynamic friction is developed within the framework of a combination of kinetic and mode-coupling theories. The approach provides a powerful analytic tool to study chemical reactions in realistic condensed phase environments. The accuracy of the approach is tested for a model isomerization reaction in a Lennard-Jones fluid. Good agreement is obtained for the transmission coefficient at different solvent densities, in comparison with numerical simulations based on the reactive-flux approach.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Friction, order, and transverse pinning of a two-dimensional elastic lattice under periodic and impurity potentials

Frictional phenomena of two-dimensional elastic lattices are studied numerically based on a two-dimensional Frenkel-Kontorova model with impurities. It is shown that impurities can assist the depinning. We also investigate anisotropic ordering and transverse pinning effects of sliding lattices, which are characteristic of the moving Bragg glass state and/or transverse glass state. Peculiar velocity dependence of the transverse pinning is observed in the presence of both periodic and random potentials and discussed in the relation with growing order and discommensurate structures.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 5 figures. to appear in Phys. Rev. B Rapid Commu

Contact and Friction of Nano-Asperities: Effects of Adsorbed Monolayers

Molecular dynamics simulations are used to study contact between a rigid, nonadhesive, spherical tip with radius of order 30nm and a flat elastic substrate covered with a fluid monolayer of adsorbed chain molecules. Previous studies of bare surfaces showed that the atomic scale deviations from a sphere that are present on any tip constructed from discrete atoms lead to significant deviations from continuum theory and dramatic variability in friction forces. Introducing an adsorbed monolayer leads to larger deviations from continuum theory, but decreases the variations between tips with different atomic structure. Although the film is fluid, it remains in the contact and behaves qualitatively like a thin elastic coating except for certain tips at high loads. Measures of the contact area based on the moments or outer limits of the pressure distribution and on counting contacting atoms are compared. The number of tip atoms making contact in a time interval grows as a power of the interval when the film is present and logarithmically with the interval for bare surfaces. Friction is measured by displacing the tip at a constant velocity or pulling the tip with a spring. Both static and kinetic friction rise linearly with load at small loads. Transitions in the state of the film lead to nonlinear behavior at large loads. The friction is less clearly correlated with contact area than load.Comment: RevTex4, 17 pages, 13 figure

Canonical active Brownian motion

Active Brownian motion is the complex motion of active Brownian particles. They are active in the sense that they can transform their internal energy into energy of motion and thus create complex motion patterns. Theories of active Brownian motion so far imposed couplings between the internal energy and the kinetic energy of the system. We investigate how this idea can be naturally taken further to include also couplings to the potential energy, which finally leads to a general theory of canonical dissipative systems. Explicit analytical and numerical studies are done for the motion of one particle in harmonic external potentials. Apart from stationary solutions, we study non-equilibrium dynamics and show the existence of various bifurcation phenomena.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, a few remarks and references adde