Driven Frenkel-Kontorova model. I. Uniform sliding states and dynamical domains of different particle densities

The dynamical behavior of a harmonic chain in a spatially periodic potential (Frenkel-Kontorova model, discrete sine-Gordon equation) under the influence of an external force and a velocity proportional damping is investigated. We do this at zero temperature for long chains in a regime where inertia and damping as well as the nearest-neighbor interaction and the potential are of the same order. There are two types of regular sliding states: uniform sliding states, which are periodic solutions where all particles perform the same motion shifted in time; and nonuniform sliding states, which are quasiperiodic solutions where the system forms patterns of domains of different uniform sliding states. We discuss the properties of this kind of pattern formation, and derive equations of motion for the slowly varying average particle density and velocity. To observe these dynamical domains, we suggest experiments with a discrete ring of at least 50 Josephson junctions.