Normal Transport Properties in a Metastable Stationary State for a Classical Particle Coupled to a Non-Ohmic Bath

Abstract

We study the Hamiltonian motion of an ensemble of unconfined classical particles driven by an external field F through a translationally-invariant, thermal array of monochromatic Einstein oscillators. The system does not sustain a stationary state, because the oscillators cannot effectively absorb the energy of high speed particles. We nonetheless show that the system has at all positive temperatures a well-defined low-field mobility μ over macroscopic time scales of order exp (c/F), during which it finds itself in a metastable stationary state. The mobility is independent of F at low fields, and related to the zero-field diffusion constant D through the Einstein relation. The system therefore exhibits normal transport even though the bath obviously has a discrete frequency spectrum (it is simply monochromatic) and is therefore highly non-Ohmic. Such features are usually associated with anomalous transport properties.

Department(s)

Physics

Sponsor(s)

INRIA SIMPAF

Keywords and Phrases

Inelastic Lorentz Gas; Mobility; Normal Transport; Diffusion

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0022-4715

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2008 Springer Verlag, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Sep 2008

Link to Full Text

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