Type: Article
Publication Date: 2000-05-15
Citations: 8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1143/jpsj.69.1255
To understand the mechanism allowing for the long-term storage of excess energy in proteins, we study a Hamiltonian system consisting of several coupled pendula in partial contact with a heat bath. It is found that energy storage is possible when the motion of each pendulum switches between oscillatory (vibrational) and rotational (phase-slip) modes. The storage time increases almost exponentially to the square root of the injected energy. The relevance of our mechanism to protein motors is discussed.