Journal of Statistical Physics, Vol. 65, Nos. 1/2, 1991. p. 403-412.
Experiments indicate that frictional resistance to sliding between macroscopic, clean, dry surfaces depends on the average rate V at which the surfaces are translated relative to each other. Using a new lattice automaton, we obtain results suggesting that rate-dependent macroscopic dynamics may arise from microscopic interactions between contact points which decay from a metastable state with a finite lifetime Г...