Energy transport in stochastically perturbed lattice dynamics (Q849229)

Recently, strong efforts have been made to understand energy transport in anharmonic chains. A prototype example is the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam chain with pinning potential and a fourth-order nonlinearity with respect to the particle displacements. Energy transport can be studied by coupling the end particles of the chain to thermal reservoirs at different temperatures. To develop the necessary techniques, the paper considers first the case of a one-dimensional chain without fourth-order nonlinearity with respect to the particle displacements. The chain is infinite, and it is allowed for a general harmonic coupling of the particles. Lattice dynamics with a small stochastic perturbation of order \(\varepsilon\) is taken into account, and it is proven that for a space-time scale of order \(\varepsilon^{-1}\) the local spectral density (Wigner function) evolves according to a linear transport equation describing inelastic collisions. For an energy and momentum conserving chain, the transport equation predicts a slow decay, as \(\sqrt{t}\) (\(t\)-time), for the energy current correlation in equilibrium. Further, the developed theory is extended to chains with dimensions \(d\geq2\), and to stochastic perturbations conserving only the energy. The energy transport is discussed in detail. The results of the present paper are in agreement with a previous direct approach using the Green-Kubo formula [\textit{G. Basile} et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 204303 (2006; \url{doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.204303}); \textit{G. Basile, C. Bernardin} and \textit{S. Olla}, ``Thermal conductivity for a momentum conservative model'', \url{arXiv:cond-mat/0601544}; \textit{C. Bernardin} and \textit{S. Olla}, J. Stat. Phys. 121, No. 3--4, 271--289 (2005; Zbl 1127.82042)].