Resonant steps and spatiotemporal dynamics in the damped dc-driven   Frenkel-Kontorova chain
  Kink dynamics of the damped Frenkel-Kontorova (discrete sine-Gordon) chain driven by a constant external force are investigated. Resonant steplike transitions of the average velocity occur due to the competitions between the moving kinks and their radiated phasonlike modes. A mean-field consideration is introduced to give a precise prediction of the resonant steps. Slip-stick motion and spatiotemporal dynamics on those resonant steps are discussed. Our results can be applied to studies of the fluxon dynamics of 1D Josephson-junction arrays and ladders, dislocations, tribology and other fields. 
Zhigang Zheng, Bambi Hu, and Gang Hu (Department of Physics and Center   for Nonlinear Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University...