Vibrational energy transfer and heat conduction in a one-dimensional glass

The mechanisms for vibrational energy transport through an anharmonic one-dimensional glass are examined. The rate of vibrational energy transfer from normal modes of the disordered chain is estimated for extended and localized modes. Anharmonicity transfers energy from localized modes of the harmonic chain to spatially overlapping localized modes at a far greater rate than it transfers energy to extended modes, processes that had been suggested to occur at comparable rates. The role of diffusion of localized mode excitations (locons) in the thermal conductivity of the one-dimensional glass is discussed.