COHERENT RELAXATION AND ACCELERATION OF ATOMS IN NONEQUILIBRIUM CRYSTALS

It is shown that in a nonequilibrium system of atoms, which are situated along a crystal line, in the presence of two minima of potential energy for every atom and in case of atom localization in the higher-energy minimum a series of successive collisions resulting in acceleration of one of the atoms may occur. The above-mentioned systems can appear in the vicinity of the coherent boundary of different phases in crystals or in the case of strong shear deformation. The excited crystal state, in which the successive atom relaxation leads to the energy rise of one of the atoms, is called ''acceleron''. The role of various processes, which restrict the acceleron energy, is analyzed. The possibility to manifest the phenomenon is discussed.