Stretch diffusion and heat conduction in one-dimensional nonlinear lattices.

Abstract

For heat conduction in one-dimensional (1D) nonlinear Hamiltonian lattices, it has been known that conserved quantities play an important role in determining the actual heat conduction behavior. In closed or microcanonical Hamiltonian systems, the total energy and stretch are always conserved. Depending on the existence of external on-site potential, the total momentum can be conserved or not. All the momentum-conserving lattices have anomalous heat conduction except the 1D coupled rotator lattice. It was recently claimed that "whenever stretch (momentum) is not conserved in a 1D model, the momentum (stretch) and energy fields exhibit normal diffusion." The stretch in a coupled rotator lattice was also argued to be nonconserved due to the requirement of a finite partition function, which enables the coupled rotator lattice to fulfill this claim. In this work, we will systematically investigate stretch diffusion and heat conduction in terms of energy diffusion for typical 1D nonlinear lattices. Contrary to what was claimed, no clear connection between conserved quantities and heat conduction can be established. The actual situation might be more complicated than what was proposed.