Dynamical Transitions in Correlated Driven Diffusion in a Periodic Potential

Abstract

The diffusion of a two-dimensional array of particles driven by a constant force in the presence of a periodic external potential exhibits a hierarchy of dynamical phase transitions when the driving force is varied. This behavior can be explained by a simple phenomenological approach which reduces the system of strongly interacting particles to weakly interacting quasiparticles (kinks). The richness of the strongly coupled system is, however, not lost because, contrary to a single Brownian particle, the array shows an hysteretic behavior even at nonzero temperature. The present investigation can be viewed as a first step toward understanding nanotribology.