Hysteresis in the pinning-depinning transition in underdamped two-dimensional Frenkel-Kontorova model

Hysteretic phenomenon is studied in the 2D Frenkel-Kontorova model system. In the depinning process, two critical points F-s1 and F-s2 are found. In the pinning process, two critical points F-b1 and F-b2 are also found. The dependence of four critical forces F-s1, F-s2, F-b1, F-b2 on the system parameters such as external driving force, misfit angle, winding number, interatomic strength is investigated. The winding number b/a substantially affect the depinning forces of F-s1 and F-s2, but not the pinning forces of both F-b1 and F-b2. The pinning force of F-b2 linearly increases as the interatomic interaction strength (K) increase. The dependence of both F-b1 and F-b2 on the misfit angle. is not in fractal structure which is different from the depinning force of F-s1. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2011