Related papers: Kinks and Nanofriction: Structural Phases in Few-A…
A crystal lattice, when confined to the surface of a cylinder, must have a periodic structure that is commensurate with the cylinder circumference. This constraint can frustrate the system, leading to oblique crystal lattices or to…
We determined frictional figures of merit for a pair of layered honeycomb nanostructures, such as graphane, fluorographene, MoS$_2$ and WO$_2$ moving over each other, by carrying out ab-initio calculations of interlayer interaction under…
The transition from static to dynamic friction when an elastic body is slid over another is now known to result from the motion of interface rupture fronts. These fronts may be either crack-like or pulse-like, with the latter involving…
We investigate numerically a simple microscopic model to describe wearless dry friction between atomically flat contact interfaces without thermal fluctuations (T=0K). The analysis of the incommensurate ground state shows a breaking of…
One way of controlling friction and associated energy losses is to engineer a deterministic structural pattern on the surface of the rubbing parts (i.e., texture engineering). Custom texturing enhances the quality of lubrication, reduces…
In this thesis, we study interactions between topological defects in two-dimensional spacetimes. These defects are called kinks. They are solutions of scalar field theories with localized energy which propagate without losing its shape. In…
We study the activated motion of adsorbed polymers which are driven over a structured substrate by a localized point force.Our theory applies to experiments with single polymers using, for example, tips of scanning force microscopes to drag…
Ultracold bosons in optical lattices are one of the few systems where bosonic matter is known to exhibit strong correlations. Here we push the frontier of our understanding of interacting bosons in optical lattices by adding synthetic…
The mechanical response of elastic porous media confined within rigid geometries is central to a wide range of industrial, geological, and biomedical systems. However, current models for these problems typically overlook the role of wall…
We present a comparative analysis of the velocity dependence of atomic-scale friction for the Tomlinson model, at zero and finite temperatures, in 1D and 2D, and for different values of the damping. Combining analytical arguments with…
We calculate the van der Waals friction between two semi-infinite solids in normal relative motion and find a drastic difference in comparison with the parallel relative motion. The case of the good conductors is investigated in details…
We study the elastic response of a worm-like polymer chain with reversible kink-like structural defects. This is a generic model for (a) the double-stranded DNA with sharp bends induced by binding of certain proteins, and (b) effects of…
Contact processes play an important role in classical non-equilibrium dynamics, describing the spreading of diseases, the dynamics of earthquakes and forest fires, and the distribution of information through the internet. Here we show that…
A string of trapped ions at zero temperature exhibits a structural phase transition to a zigzag structure, tuned by reducing the transverse trap potential or the interparticle distance. The transition is driven by transverse, short…
Topological defects are discontinuities of a system protected by global properties, with wide applications in mathematics and physics. While previous experimental studies mostly focused on their classical properties, it has been predicted…
The inertial sliding of physisorbed submonolayer islands on crystal surfaces contains unexpected information on the exceptionally incommensurate smooth sliding state associated with superlubricity and on the mechanisms of its disappearance.…
This paper proposes a one-dimensional lattice model with long-range interactions which, in the continuum, keeps its nonlocal behaviour. In fact, the long-time evolution of the localized waves is governed by an asymptotic equation of the…
Friction is a complex phenomenon that is of paramount importance in everyday life. We present an easy-to-build and inexpensive experiment illustrating Coulomb's law of kinetic friction. The so-called friction, or Timoshenko, oscillator…
We study a conservative stochastic lattice dynamics (Kawasaki dynamics) in contact everywhere in the bulk with a heat bath. Particles interact via an Ising Hamiltonian and phase separation occurs at low temperature. We drive the system out…
The structure and motion of carbon and h-BN nanotubes (NTs) deposited on graphene is inquired theoretically by simulations based on state-of-the-art interatomic force fields. Results show that any typical cylinder-over-surface approximation…