Linear response theory friction

Figure 5 Typical velocity relationship of kinetic friction for a sliding contact in which friction is from adsorbed layers confined between two incommensurate walls. The kinetic friction F is normalized by the static friction Fs. At extremely small velocities v, the confined layer is close to thermal equilibrium and, consequently, F is linear in v, as to be expected from linear response theory. In an intermediate velocity regime, the velocity dependence of F is logarithmic. Instabilities or pops of the atoms can be thermally activated. At large velocities, the surface moves too quickly for thermal effects to play a role. Time-temperature superposition could be applied. All data were scaled to one reference temperature. Reprinted with permission from Ref. 25. 

In this equation g(t) represents the retarded effect of the frictional force, and /(f) is an external force including the random force from the solvent molecules. We see, in contrast to the simple Langevin equation with a constant friction coefficient, that the friction force at a given time t depends on all previous velocities along the trajectory. The friction force is no longer local in time and does not depend on the current velocity alone. The time-dependent friction coefficient is therefore also referred to as a memory kernel . A short-time expansion of the velocity correlation function based on the GLE gives (fcfiT/M)( 1 — (g/M)t2/(2r) + ), where r is the decay time of g(t), and it therefore does not have a discontinuous first derivative at t = 0. The discussion of the properties of the GLE is most easily accomplished by using so-called linear response theory, which forms the theoretical basis for the equation and is a powerful method that allows us to determine non-equilibrium transport coefficients from equilibrium properties of the systems. A discussion of this is, however, beyond the scope of this book. 

Equations (161) and (162) are two equivalent formulations of the second FDT [30,31]. The Kubo formula (162) for the generalized friction coefficient can also be established directly by applying linear response theory to the force exerted by the bath on the particle, this force being considered as a dynamical variable of the isolated particle-plus-bath system. We will come back to this point in Section VI.B. 

Let us now come back to the specific problem of the diffusion of a particle in an out-of-equilibrium environment. In a quasi-stationary regime, the particle velocity obeys the generalized Langevin equation (22). The generalized susceptibilities of interest are the particle mobility p(co) = Xvxi03) and the generalized friction coefficient y(co) = — (l/mm)x ( ) [the latter formula deriving from the relation (170) between y(f) and Xj> (f))- The results of linear response theory as applied to the particle velocity, namely the Kubo formula (156) and the Einstein relation (159), are not valid out-of-equilibrium. The same... 

We finally observe that delayed response phenomena akin to creep and relaxation occur in other areas of Mechanics and Physics, and are attributable to the same fundamental cause, namely (usually internal) frictional losses. The mathematical techniques used for analyzing such phenomena are similar to those used in analyzing the properties of the viscoelastic functions. Such a close analogy exists between certain phenomena in the theory of Dielectrics and Linear Viscoelasticity, as emphasized by Gross (1953). 

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