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Updated: Apr 29, 2026

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids
Published on: December 4, 2017
Cross-correlations between phonon modes in anharmonic oscillator chains: role in heat transport
Maxime Gill-Comeau1, Laurent J Lewis1
1Département de Physique et Regroupement Québécois sur les Matériaux de Pointe (RQMP), Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7, Canada.
Abstract:
We have computed current-current correlation functions in chains of anharmonic oscillators described by various models (FPU-β, FPU-αβ, ϕ4), considering both the total current and the currents associated with individual phonon modes, which are important in view of the Green-Kubo relation for heat conductivity. Our simulations show that, contrary to the common hypothesis, there are, under some circumstances, significant correlations between neighboring modes. These cross-mode correlations are the dominant contribution to the conductivity in the low anharmonicity regime. The inverse of the timescale over which they are significant, 1/τc, is related to the anharmonicity level in a way similar to the largest Lyapunov exponent, suggesting that the two quantities are related. Cross-mode correlations exist in both anomalous and regular heat-conducting systems although we are unable to observe a transition to the independent-mode regime in the latter case.
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