The development of Atomic and Lateral Force Microscopes has stimulated a burst of theoretical research on friction at an atomic scale. One approach to this problem is the study of the dynamical behaviour of a harmonic chain in a periodic, possibly incommensurate, substrate potential (Frenkel Kontorova model). The dynamics of this apparently simple model is extremely complex. I will present some (also unexplained) results, pointing out possible relations to other statistical mechanics models.

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