Nonequilibrium Steady States of Some Simple 1-D Mechanical Chains

We study nonequilibrium steady states of some 1-D mechanical models with N moving particles on a line segment connected to unequal heat baths. For a system in which particles move freely, exchanging energy as they collide with one another, we prove that the mean energy along the chain is constant and equal to, where T_L and T_R are the temperatures of the two baths. We then consider systems in which particles are trapped, i. e., each confined to its designated interval in the phase space, but these intervals overlap to permit interaction of neighbors. For these systems, we show numerically that the system has well defined local temperatures and obeys Fourier's Law (with energy-dependent conductivity) provided we vary the masses randomly to enable the repartitioning of energy. Dynamical systems issues that arise in this study are discussed though their resolution is beyond reach.