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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Characterization of Thermal Transport in One-dimensional Solid Materials
Published on: January 26, 2014
Analytic calculation of energy transfer and heat flux in a one-dimensional system
V Balakrishnan1, C Van den Broeck
1Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600 036, India. vbalki@physics.iitm.ac.in
Abstract:
In the context of the problem of heat conduction in one-dimensional systems, we present an analytical calculation of the instantaneous energy transfer across a tagged particle in a one-dimensional gas of equal-mass, hard-point particles. From this, we obtain a formula for the steady-state energy flux, and identify and separate the mechanical work and heat conduction contributions to it. The nature of the Fourier law for the model, and the nonlinear dependence of the rate of mechanical work on the stationary drift velocity of the tagged particle, are analyzed and elucidated.
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