Rate dependent response of nanoscale structures having a multiwell energy landscape.

A stochastic and rate-dependent response originating from thermal fluctuations over a highly nonconvex energy landscape is a prevailing aspect of the mechanical behavior of nanoscale structures. The overdamped dynamics of a bistable chain subjected to thermal fluctuations is prototypical of such behavior. Based on this approach, we find a new nondimensional quantity, similar in its mathematical structure to Boltzmann's factor, which captures the intricate competition between rate, temperature, and energy barriers underlying the system dynamics. In turn, we obtain simple universal laws for predicting statistical properties of the mechanical response.