Coupled transport in rotor models

TL;DR

This paper investigates steady non-equilibrium states in one-dimensional rotor models, highlighting the coupling between angular momentum and energy fluxes, and clarifying the role of coherent energy flux in transport properties.

Contribution

It demonstrates the importance of distinguishing energy and heat fluxes and reveals how angular momentum couples with energy in rotor models, providing new insights into their transport behavior.

Findings

Coupling between angular momentum and energy fluxes exists even with zero Seebeck coefficient.

Knowledge of the Onsager matrix's diagonal elements suffices to determine transport properties.

The analysis links the XY chain and discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation models.

Abstract

Steady non-equilibrium states are investigated in a one-dimensional setup in the presence of two thermodynamic currents. Two paradigmatic nonlinear oscillators models are investigated: an XY chain and the discrete nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation. Their distinctive feature is that the relevant variable is an angle in both cases. We point out the importance of clearly distinguishing between energy and heat flux. In fact, even in the presence of a vanishing Seebeck coefficient, a coupling between (angular) momentum and energy arises, mediated by the unavoidable presence of a "coherent" energy flux. Such a contribution is the result of the "advection" induced by the position-dependent angular velocity. As a result, in the XY model, the knowledge of the two diagonal elements of the Onsager matrix suffices to reconstruct its transport properties. The analysis of the nonequilibrium steady states finally allows to strengthen the connection between the two models.