Sliding and dry friction: Prandtl-Tomlinson athermal model revisited

Abstract: The microscopic origin of friction has been the goal of several theoretical studies in the last decades. Depending on the investigated systems or models, on the simulation techniques or conditions, different and somewhat contradictory results have been found, even when using the same model. In this contribution, we address this apparent paradox in a well-known case, the Prandtl-Tomlinson model at zero temperature, studying the force-velocity relation for a wide range of velocities not previously presented. Including much more data density for the non trivial regions, we are able to shed light on this problem and at the same time, provide new insight in the use of the paradigmatic Tomlinson model for the secular problem of friction laws.