along the chain. The quality of this assumption depends on your
particular chain. For example, a damped spring thermalizes on a
timescale of order $\tau = 1/\gamma$ where the damping ratio $\gamma
-\equiv \omega_0(-\zeta \pm \sqrt{\zeta^2-1}$, the natural angular
+\equiv \omega_0(-\zeta \pm \sqrt{\zeta^2-1})$, the natural angular
frequency $\omega_0 \equiv \sqrt{k/m}$, $\zeta \equiv b/2\sqrt{km}$,
and $b$ sets the drag $F_b = -bv$. For our cantilevers $\tau$ is
on the order of milliseconds, which is longer than a timestep.