Harvesting thermal fluctuations: Activation process induced by a nonlinear chain in thermal equilibrium
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 0340, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0340 (United States)
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 0340, and Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0340 (United States)
- Departament d'Estructura i Constituents de la Materia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avda. Diagonal 647, 08028 Barcelona, (Spain)
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 0340, and Institute for Nonlinear Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0340 (United States)
We present a model in which the immediate environment of a bistable system is a molecular chain which in turn is connected to a thermal environment of the Langevin form. The molecular chain consists of masses connected by harmonic or by anharmonic springs. The distribution, intensity, and mobility of thermal fluctuations in these chains is strongly dependent on the nature of the springs and leads to different transition dynamics for the activated process. Thus, all else (temperature, damping, coupling parameters between the chain and the bistable system) being the same, the hard chain may provide an environment described as diffusion-limited and more effective in the activation process, while the soft chain may provide an environment described as energy-limited and less effective. The importance of a detailed understanding of the thermal environment toward the understanding of the activation process itself is thus highlighted. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics.
- OSTI ID:
- 20216748
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Chemical Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Chemical Physics Journal Issue: 23 Vol. 112; ISSN JCPSA6; ISSN 0021-9606
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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