Are current-induced forces conservative?

Abstract

The expression for the force on an ion in the presence of current can be derived from first principles without any assumption about its conservative character. However, energy functionals have been constructed that indicate that this force can be written as the derivative of a potential function. On the other hand, there exist compelling specific arguments that strongly suggest the contrary. We propose physical mechanisms that invalidate such arguments and demonstrate their existence with first-principles calculations. While our results do not constitute a formal resolution to the fundamental question of whether current-induced forces are conservative, they represent a substantial step forward in this direction.

4 pages, 4 Figures, submitted to PRL

References in corpus (3)

• Onset of dissipation in ballistic atomic wires
• Origin Of Current-Induced Forces In An Atomic Gold Wire: A First Principles Study
• Nonlinear current-induced forces in Si atomic wires

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