  In this paper, we present a simple and robust numerical method able to
predict, with high accuracy, the photo-thermal effects occurring for a gold
nanoparticles arrangement under externally applied strain. The physical system
is numerically implemented in the COMSOL Multiphysics simulation platform. The
gold nanoparticles distributions are excited by linearly polarized light. By
considering the system at rest and under the action of a mechanical stress, we
analyze the extinction cross section, and we observe the production of heat at
the nanoscale. The purpose of this work is to describe how sensitive the local
temperature of the gold nanoparticles arrangement is to the formation of
localized photo-thermal hot spots.
