Dynamics of a chain of interacting magnetic particles in a one-dimensional periodic energy landscape

We explore the dynamics of a one-dimensional chain of paramagnetic colloidal particles in a periodic potential. The model accounts for a constant external force, along with magnetic dipolar attraction and hard-core repulsive interactions between particles. Numerical simulations reveal the emergence of a traveling kink – a chain defect propagating along the chain. We show that the kink emerges beyond a critical force threshold and identify parameter regimes corresponding to distinct dynamic modes such as a pinned kink, a running kink, a cluster kink, and chain drift.