2007/07/13 by Ruth Martínez-Casado, R. Martinez-Casado, José Luis Vega +5 · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #cond-mat.stat-mech #nanoparticles nucleation surface interactions #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0953-8984/19/30/305002
published as J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 19, 305002 (2007) · 32 pages, 7 figures
openalex publication_date 2007/07/13 · arxiv created 2007/07/16 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
The study of diffusion and low-frequency vibrational motions of particles on metal surfaces is of paramount importance; it provides valuable information on the nature of the adsorbate–substrate and substrate–substrate interactions. In particular, the experimental broadening observed in the diffusive peak with increasing coverage is usually interpreted in terms of a dipole–dipole-like interaction among adsorbates via extensive molecular dynamics calculations within the Langevin framework. Here we present an alternative way to interpret this broadening by means of a purely stochastic description, namely the interacting single-adsorbate approximation, where two noise sources are considered: (1) a Gaussian white noise accounting for the surface friction and temperature, and (2) a white shot noise replacing the interaction potential between adsorbates. Standard Langevin numerical simulations for flat and corrugated surfaces (with a separable potential) illustrate the dynamics of Na atoms on a Cu(100) surface which fit fairly well to the analytical expressions issued from simple models (free particle and anharmonic oscillator) when the Gaussian approximation is assumed. A similar broadening is also expected for the frustrated translational mode peaks.