Brownian motion of a nonlinear oscillator

Starting with the Langevin equation for a nonlinear oscillator (the Duffing oscillator) undergoing ordinary Brownian motion, we derive linear transport laws for the motion of the average position and velocity of the oscillator. The resulting linear equations are valid for only small deviations of average values from thermal equilibrium. They contain a renormalized oscillator frequency and a renormalized and non-Markovian friction coefficient, both depending on the nonlinear part of the original equation of motion. Numerical computations of the position correlation function and its spectral density are presented. The spectral density compares favorably with experimental results obtained by Morton using an analog computer method.Technical Note BN-674. Research supported in part by NSF grant GP-12591, and in part by PHS Research Grant No. MG16426-02 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.