Physical Review A, 46, 4676-4688 (1992).
We investigate the behavior of a chain of N nonlinear oscillators, in a model originally invoked to describe depinning of switching charge-density waves. The dynamics is dominated by the coexistence of a large number of attractors, one of which -the minimally stable state- plays a central role. At threshold, very broad depinning-time distributions occur for long chains. Physically, these long times reflect very slow motion punctuated by rapid but localized motion of the chain.
PACS numbers: 05.45.+b, 72.15.Nj
Pere Colet e-mail: [email protected] http://www.imedea.uib.es/~pere/