Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 0912.1763

Buckled nano rod - a two state system and its dynamics using system plus reservoir model

Aniruddha Chakraborty
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

We consider a suspended elastic rod under longitudinal compression. The compression can be used to adjust potential energy for transverse displacements from harmonic to double well regime. As compressional strain is increased to the buckling instability, the frequency of fundamental vibrational mode drops continuously to zero (first buckling instability). As one tunes the separation between ends of a rod, the system remains stable beyond the instability and develops a double well potential for transverse motion. The two minima in potential energy curve describe two possible buckled states at a particular strain. From one buckled state it can go over to the other by thermal fluctuations or quantum tunnelling. Using a continuum approach and transition state theory (TST) one can calculate the rate of conversion from one state to other. Saddle point for the change from one state to other is the straight rod configuration. The rate, however, diverges at the second buckling instability. At this point, the straight rod configuration, which was a saddle till then, becomes hill top and two new saddles are generated. The new saddles have bent configurations and as rod goes through further instabilities, they remain stable and the rate calculated according to harmonic approximation around saddle point remains finite. In our earlier paper classical rate calculation including friction has been carried out [J. Comput. Theor. Nanosci. {\bf 4} (2007) {\it 1}], by assuming that each segment of the rod is coupled to its own collection of harmonic oscillators - our rate expression is well behaved through the second buckling instability. In this paper we have extended our method to calculate quantum rate using the same system plus reservoir model. We find that friction lowers the rate of conversion.

Explore related subjects

cond-mat.soft

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Aniruddha Chakraborty. 2009-12-09. Buckled nano rod - a two state system and its dynamics using system plus reservoir model. https://doi.org/10.1080/00268976.2010.533207

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Spontaneous Vortex Instability in Active Nematics

One of the defining results in the study of active matter is the spontaneous flow instability, through which a homogeneous, uniformly aligned state breaks translational symmetry along a single direction and develops sustained flow. The vortex state that emerges at higher activity has instead been attributed to nonlinear dynamics. Using a Floquet-type linear stability analysis, we show that no such mechanism is required: the flowing state undergoes a secondary, zigzag instability that breaks the remaining translational symmetry and produces the vortex state. We further identify a regime in which the flowing state ceases to exist and vortices emerge directly from the uniformly aligned state. Under channel confinement, the instability selects a length scale that differs from the establishedactivelengthscale, andsetsthenumberofvorticesthatappear, leadingtoaconfinement- selected pattern reminiscent of a vortex lattice, opening a route toward direct experimental tests of this instability. Full nonlinear simulations reproduce the predicted onset activities and the selected vortex number.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2026

Active pistons extract work by periodic compression alone

Active matter is liable to invent protocols that evade the constraints of equilibrium thermodynamics. We put forward active pistons that extract work by periodic compression alone without changing any bulk property of the system. Such pistons necessarily couple the perturbation imposed by an external operator with some degrees of freedom internal to active components. We illustrate this design principle with elastic networks composed of self-aligning motile particles. For slow protocols, self-alignment always overwhelms mechanical friction when the internal activity exceeds a specific threshold controlled by fluctuations. We identify the key response coefficient that helps delineate regimes of work extraction, and reveal that the corresponding phase diagram follows a master curve with re-entrance in terms of noise amplitude. Overall, our active pistons embody a novel design principle with broad implications for building innovative engines far from equilibrium.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2026

Geometry-induced flocking and topological sound on a defect-free curved surface

We study an ordered polar active flock on a torus and show that topological sound persists on a compact curved surface without topological defects or physical boundaries. Using the covariant Toner Tu theory, we derive an effective nonHermitian Dirac operator whose curvature-induced mass changes sign across the outer and inner equators, producing two Jackiw Rebbi domain walls. These support co-propagating but distinct chiral edge excitations: a density mode localized on the positively curved outer equator and a Goldstone mode localized on the negatively curved inner equator. The bulk bands possess opposite half-integer Chern numbers whose jumps across the domain walls are determined by the sign of the Gaussian curvature. We further show that the localised modes are protected by a one-dimensional Callias index theorem, while the sum of the local indices obeys the Poincare Hopf theorem on the compact surface. Our results establish that curvature alone, independent of defects and boundaries, is sufficient to generate and protect topological sound in active matter, providing a unified connection between non-Hermitian topology, differential geometry, and hydrodynamic theory of collective motion.

cond-mat.soft↗