A detailed embedded-atom molecular-dynamics study was made of diffusion on metallic surfaces with a view to establishing the validity of the compensation (Meyer-Neldel) law for phonon-activated Arrhenius processes. It was found that surfaces with large activation barriers to diffusion indeed compensated by increasing their effective attempt frequencies. The Meyer-Neldel energy which was obtained agreed closely with published bulk diffusion data. The results confirmed the role that was played by phonons in activation, as well as the many-body nature of the excitations which led to diffusion and therefore to the Meyer-Neldel rule.

G.Boisvert, L.J.Lewis, A.Yelon: Physical Review Letters, 1995, 75[3], 469-72