Out-of-equilibrium Frenkel-Kontorova model

TL;DR

This paper introduces an out-of-equilibrium 1D Frenkel-Kontorova model demonstrating how asymmetric substrate and temperature profiles induce directed transport, highlighting the significance of collective effects in microscopic thermal devices.

Contribution

It presents a novel out-of-equilibrium model showing how asymmetries generate directed motion and collective effects enhance performance in microscopic thermal systems.

Findings

Directed transport arises from spatial asymmetries.

Disordered phases maximize motor effect.

Collective behavior outperforms single motors.

Abstract

A 1D model of interacting particles moving over a periodic substrate and in a position dependent temperature profile is considered. When the substrate and the temperature profile are spatially asymmetric a center-of-mass velocity develops, corresponding to a directed transport of the chain. This autonomous system can thus transform heath currents into motion. The model parameters can be tuned such that the particles exhibit a crossover from an ordered configuration on the substrate to a disordered one, the maximal motor effect being reached in such a disordered phase. In this case the manybody motor outperforms the single motor system, showing the great importance of collective effects in microscopic thermal devices. Such collective effects represent thus a free resource that can be exploited to enhance the dynamic and thermodynamic performances in microscopic machines.