Chaos and transport properties of adatoms on solid surfaces

Some aspects of the theory of transport in chaotic Hamiltonian systems are reviewed and applied to a model potential for diffusion of Na atoms on a Cu(001) surface (Graham A P, Hofmann F, Toennies J P, Chen L Y and Ying S C 1997 Phys. Rev. Lett. 78 3900). Through a detailed investigation of the deterministic dynamics, we describe how normal and anomalous diffusion can take place, as well as the influence of the chaotic dynamics on the short-time dynamical behaviour of the system and on the existence of long jumps. The theoretical aspects of atom-surface diffusion relevant to experiments are also reviewed and connected to some statistical models used to describe diffusion in chaotic Hamiltonian systems.