Asymmetric Kinks: Stabilization by Entropic Forces

Journal Article · Mon Sep 10 00:00:00 EDT 2001 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.114102· OSTI ID:40277582

Costantini, G; Marchesoni, F

Asymmetric kinks bridging two adjacent potential valleys of equal depth but different curvature are unstable against phonon modes. When coupled to a heat bath, a kink-bearing string tends to cross over into the shallower valley; kinks are thus predicted to drift in the appropriate direction with velocity proportional to the temperature, in close agreement with numerical simulation. When contrasted by a mechanical bias, these entropic forces give rise to a rich phenomenology that includes configurational phase transitions, double-kink dissociation, and noise-directed signal transmission.

• Sponsoring Organization: (US)
• OSTI ID: 40277582
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 87, Issue 11; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.114102; Othernumber: PRLTAO000087000011114102000001; 027137PRL; PBD: 10 Sep 2001; ISSN 0031-9007
• Publisher: The American Physical Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
DISSOCIATION
PHONONS
SIMULATION
STABILIZATION
VELOCITY