Statistical analysis of coupled oscillations with a single fixed endpoint and its application to carbon nanomaterials

Abstract

Squared deviations from the equilibrium positions of one-dimensional coupled harmonic oscillators with fixed and free endpoints are calculated, and the time averages are expressed as a function of the initial displacements and velocities. Furthermore, we consider the averages of squared deviations over an ensemble of initial displacements and velocities, which distribute based on a product of the same distribution functions with variances of the initial coordinates $\sigma_{x}^2$ and velocities $\sigma_{v}^2$, respectively. We demonstrate that the mean squared deviation linearly increases as the oscillator separates further from the fixed endpoint because of the asymmetrical boundary conditions, and that the increase rate depends only on $\sigma_{v}^2$ and not on $\sigma_{x}^2$. This simple statistical property of harmonic oscillation is similarly observed in the oscillations of a graphene sheet and carbon nanotube in molecular dynamics simulations, in which the interacting forces are nonlinear.