Abstract
To analyze kinetic friction between solids on the atomic scale, a coupled-oscillator surface model including an infinite number of atomic layers is developed by a self-consistent scheme using a Green's function. The numerical approach shows that friction involves not only surface atoms and their interaction with an opposite surface but also bulk atoms in a solid. Energy transfer from kinetic energy of a sliding solid to low-frequency lattice vibration occurs in the presence of bulk atoms, and energy dissipation into the bulk system leads to friction.