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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Characterization of Thermal Transport in One-dimensional Solid Materials
Published on: January 26, 2014
Momentum conserving one-dimensional system with a finite thermal conductivity
G R Lee-Dadswell1, E Turner, J Ettinger
1Mathematics, Physics and Geology Department, Cape Breton University, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. geoffrey_lee-dadswell@cbu.ca
Abstract:
A one-dimensional system of particles is examined in which even numbered particles are bound to adjacent even particles by harmonic spring forces, while odd particles are free. Even and odd particles collide elastically. This is a momentum conserving modification of the famous "ding-a-ling" model. Molecular-dynamics simulations are carried out and the current power spectra are obtained. The energy current power spectrum has zero slope at low frequencies. This implies that the thermal conductivity κ is finite and independent of system length L , for L sufficiently large. Steady-state simulations provide further evidence that κ is independent of L at large values of L . The relevance of this result to the proof by Prosen and Campbell that momentum conservation with nonvanishing pressure implies an infinite thermal conductivity is discussed.
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