A simulation study of peak effect in a two-dimensional disordered vortex solid

Abstract

We study the behavior of threshold depinning force as a function of the shear modulus in a model of two-dimensional logarithmically interacting vortices subject to a random potential using a simulated annealing molecular dynamics method. Peak effects and different nature of depinning flow patterns are observed. This result suggests that peak effect is a signal of cross-over between the different pinning regimes.