Diffusion relaxation of solitons in finite Frenkel–Kontorova systems

The notion of a soliton as a quasiparticle in the Frenkel–Kontorova system is substantiated. This allows the use of the diffusive model for the description of the processes of soliton creation and disappearance at the chain ends. The Frenkel–Kontorova model is modified through the addition of barriers with certain height and concentration to the pinning profile of the potential energy surface for the soliton motion along the chain. The ratio of the relaxation times in ideal and defective systems is estimated, and it is shown that the relaxation rate can be reduced by ten and higher orders of magnitude under quite reasonable assumptions.