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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
A model is presented of a particle that interacts with two periodic potentials, representing two confining plates, one of which is externally driven. The model leads to various behaviors in the motion of the top driven plate: stick-slip, intermittent regime, characterized by force fluctuations, and two types of sliding above a critical driving velocity vc. Similar behaviors are typical of a broad range of systems including thin sheared liquids. A detailed analysis of the different regimes displays a transition between the stick-slip and the kinetic regimes, ω−2 power spectra of the force over a wide range of velocities below vc, and a decrease of the force fluctuations that follows (vc – v)½ for v < vc. The velocity dependent Liapunov exponents demonstrate that the stick-slip motion is characterized by a chaotic behavior of the top plate and the embedded particle. An extension of the model to an embedded chain is introduced and preliminary results are presented and confronted with the single particle case. The role of the internal excitations of the chain in frictional dynamics is discussed.