Modulating heat conduction by stretching or compressing

Abstract

Recent studies have revealed that the symmetry of interparticle potential plays an important role in one-dimensional heat conduction problem. Here we demonstrate that by stretching or compressing the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-\b{eta} lattice, one can control the symmetry of the potential, and thus manipulate the decaying behavior of the heat current autocorrelation function (HCAF). In fact, stretching or compressing induces a fast decaying stage (FDS) during which the HCAF decays faster than power-law manners or in a power law manner but faster than ~t -1. The time range as well as the decay amplitude of the HCAF over the FDS increase as the stretching or compressing ratio increase, or as the temperature decreases. As a consequence, the thermal conductivity calculated following the Green-Kubo formula shows a truncation-time independent window, implying a system-size independent conductivity. Stretching or compressing also changes the exponent of the power-law tail of the HCAF. The complicated heat conduction behavior induced by stretching or compressing can be connected to the change of the symmetry of the interparticle potential.

10 pages, 3 figures