Discrete breathers

Nonlinear classical Hamiltonian lattices exhibit generic solutions in the form of discrete breathers. These solutions are time-periodic and (typically exponentially) localized in space. The lattices exhibit discrete translational symmetry. Discrete breathers are not confined to certain lattice dimensions. Necessary ingredients for their occurrence are the existence of upper bounds on the phonon spectrum (of small fluctuations around the groundstate) of the system as well as the nonlinearity in the differential equations. We will present existence proofs, formulate necessary existence conditions, and discuss structural stability of discrete breathers. The following results will be also discussed: the creation of breathers through tangent bifurcation of band edge plane waves; dynamical stability; details of the spatial decay; numerical methods of obtaining breathers; interaction of breathers with phonons and electrons; movability; influence of the lattice dimension on discrete breather properties; quantum lattices — quantum breathers.Finally we will formulate a new conceptual approach capable of predicting whether discrete breathers exist for a given system or not, without actually solving for the breather. We discuss potential applications in lattice dynamics of solids (especially molecular crystals), selective bond excitations in large molecules, dynamical properties of coupled arrays of Josephson junctions, and localization of electromagnetic waves in photonic crystals with nonlinear response.     

Energy thresholds for discrete breathers

Discrete breathers are time-periodic, spatially localized solutions of the equations of motion for a system of classical degrees of freedom interacting on a lattice. An important issue, not only from a theoretical point of view but also for their experimental detection, is their energy properties. We considerably enlarge the scenario of possible energy properties presented by Flach, Kladko, and MacKay [Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 1207 (1997)]]. Breather energies have a positive lower bound if the lattice dimension is greater than or equal to a certain critical value dc. We show that dc can generically be greater than 2 for a large class of Hamiltonian systems. Furthermore, examples are provided for systems where discrete breathers exist but do not emerge from the bifurcation of a band edge plane wave. Some of these systems support breathers of arbitrarily low energy in any spatial dimension.     

Discrete breathers — Advances in theory and applications

Nonlinear classical Hamiltonian lattices exhibit generic solutions — discrete breathers. They are time-periodic and (typically exponentially) localized in space. The lattices have discrete translational symmetry. Discrete breathers are not confined to certain lattice dimensions. We will introduce the concept of these localized excitations and review their basic properties including dynamical and structural stability. We then focus on advances in the theory of discrete breathers in three directions — scattering of waves by these excitations, persistence of discrete breathers in long transient processes and thermal equilibrium, and their quantization. The second part of this review is devoted to a detailed discussion of recent experimental observations and studies of discrete breathers, including theoretical modelling of these experimental situations on the basis of the general theory of discrete breathers. In particular we will focus on their detection in Josephson junction networks, arrays of coupled nonlinear optical waveguides, Bose–Einstein condensates loaded on optical lattices, antiferromagnetic layered structures, PtCl based single crystals and driven micromechanical cantilever arrays.     

Localization of Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices

The dynamics of repulsive bosons condensed in an optical lattice is effectively described by the Bose-Hubbard model. The classical limit of this model, reproduces the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates, in a periodic potential, and in the superfluid regime. Such dynamics is governed by a discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Several papers, addressing the study of the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger dynamics, have predicted the spontaneous generation of (classical) breathers in coupled condensates. In the present contribute, we shall focus on localized solutions (quantum breathers) of the full Bose-Hubbard model. We will show that solutions exponentially localized in space and periodic in time exist also in absence of randomness. Thus, this kind of states, reproduce a novel quantum localization phenomenon due to the interplay between bounded energy spectrum and non-linearity.     

Energy localization and transport in two-dimensional Fermi–Pasta–Ulam lattices

We investigate energy localization and transport in the form of discrete breathers and their movability in two-dimensional Fermi–Pasta–Ulam(FPU) lattices. We study the dynamics of the two-dimensional Fermi–Pasta–Ulam(FPU) lattice, incorporating the complicated effects of geometry, long-range interactions as well as nonlinear dispersion. We obtain several exact discrete breather(DB) solutions, such as the odd-parity and even-parity DBs, compact-like DBs and moving DBs for various geometries of the two-dimensional FPU chain. We show that DBs also exist in the same lattice in presence of next-nearest neighbour interaction. Large-amplitude exact subsonic travelling kink-soliton solutions are obtained in such a periodic chain in presence of long-range nonlinear dispersive interaction in the long-wavelength and weakly nonlinear limit. Such a two-dimensional FPU lattice admits finite amplitude nonlinear sinusoidal wave (NSW) solutions with short commensurate as well as incommensurate wavelengths for different geometries of the chain. The usefulness of these solutions for energy localization and transport in various physical systems are discussed.     

Quantum Solitons and Breathers in an Anisotropic Ferromagnet with Octupole-Dipole Interaction

By using a full quantum approach based on the time-dependent Hartree approximation and the semidiscrete multiple-scale method, we study quantum nonlinear excitations in a one-dimensional ferromagnetic chain with octupole-dipole interaction and on-site uniaxial anisotropy. We find that quantum solitons and breathers can exist in the ferromagnetic chain, and analyze existence conditions of these excitations. Since the system states corresponding to quantum breathers are stationary states, we can get the energy level formula of such quantum breathers.     

Exotic Localized Coherent Structures of New (2+1)-Dimensional Soliton Equation

The variable separation approach is used to obtain localized coherent structures of the new (2 1)-dimensional nonlinear partialdifferential equation. Applying the Backlund transformation and introducing the arbitraryfunctions of the seed solutions, the abundance of the localized structures of this model are derived. Some special types ofsolutions solitoff, dromions, dromion lattice, breathers and instantons are discussed by selecting the arbitrary functionsappropriately. The breathers may breath in their amplititudes, shapes, distances among the peaks and even the numberof the peaks.     

Moving nonlinear localized vibrational modes for a one-dimensional homogenous lattice with quartic anharmonicity

Moving nonlinear localized vibrational modes (i.e. discrete breathers) for the one-dimensional homogenous lattice with quartic anharmonicity are obtained analytically by means of a semidiscrete approximation plus an integration. In addition to the pulse-envelope type of moving modes which have been found previously both analytically and numerically, we find that a kink-envelope type of moving mode which has not been reported before can also exist for such a lattice system. The two types of modes in both right- and left-moving form can occur with different carrier wavevectors and frequencies in separate parts of the plane. Numerical simulations are performed and their results are in good agreement with the analytical predictions. Received 13 October 1999 and Received in final form 15 May 2000     

Different kinds of discrete breathers in a Sine–Gordon lattice

We study a one-dimensional Sine–Gordon lattice of anharmonic oscillators with cubic and quartic nearest-neighbor interactions, in which discrete breathers can be explicitly constructed by an exact separation of their time and space dependence. DBs can stably exist in the one-dimensional Sine–Gordon lattice no matter whether the nonlinear interaction is cubic or quartic. When a parametric driving term is introduced in the factor multiplying the harmonic part of the on-site potential of the system, we can obtain the stable quasiperiodic discrete breathers and chaotic discrete breathers by changing the amplitude of the driver.     

Different kinds of discrete breathers in a Sine-Gordon lattice

We study a one-dimensional Sine-Gordon lattice of anharmonic oscillators with cubic and quartic nearest-neighbor interactions, in which discrete breathers can be explicitly constructed by an exact separation of their time and space dependence. DBs can stably exist in the one-dimensional Sine-Gordon lattice no matter whether the nonlinear interaction is cubic or quartic. When a parametric driving term is introduced in the factor multiplying the harmonic part of the on-site potential of the system, we can obtain the stable quasiperiodic discrete breathers and chaotic discrete breathers by changing the amplitude of the driver.     

Two-dimensional discrete gap breathers in a two-dimensional discrete diatomic Klein-Gordon lattice

We study the existence and stability of two-dimensional discrete breathers in a two-dimensionai discrete diatomic Klein-Gordon lattice consisting of alternating light and heavy atoms, with nearest-neighbor harmonic coupling. Localized solutions to the corresponding nonlinear differential equations with frequencies inside the gap of the linear wave spectrum, i.e. two-dimensional gap breathers, are investigated numerically. The numerical results of the corresponding algebraic equations demonstrate the possibility of the existence of two-dimensional gap breathers with three types of symmetries, i.e., symmetric, twin-antisymmetric and single-antisymmetric. Their stability depends on the nonlinear on-site potential （soft or hard）, the interaction potential （attractive or repulsive） and the center of the two-dimensional gap breathers （on a light or a heavy atom）.     

Properties of Moving Discrete Breathers in Beryllium

Physics of the Solid State - Discrete breathers (DBs) have been described among pure metals with face-centered cubic (FCC) and body-centered cubic (BCC) lattice, but for hexagonal close-packed...     

Continuation of normal modes in finite NLS lattices

We study the continuation of breather solutions of the discrete NLS equation as the intersite coupling parameter is varied. Considering the case of a finite one-dimensional lattice of N sites, we show the existence of N branches of breathers that persist for arbitrary coupling, thus connecting normal modes of the linear system to breathers of the uncoupled, anticontinuous limit system. The proof is based on global bifurcation theory, applied to the continuation from the weakly nonlinear regime. As the coupling parameter varies these solutions generally change their stability, and we detect parameter regions where trajectories starting near unstable breathers appear to reach equipartition of power.     

Bound states of breathers in the Frenkel-Kontorova model

In the dissipative, driven standard Frenkel-Kontorova model propagating breathers exist as attractors of the dynamics. In collisions, these excitations interact through the phonons they emit. A possible result of a two-breather collision is a bound state of two breathers. After looking at phonons and breather collisions, we present phenomenological results on breather bound states obtained from lattice dynamics simulations. In particular, we find that bound states can be characterised by the distance between the two breathers they comprise and their propagation velocity. Contrary to the single breather case, several values of the propagation velocity are easily accessible to bound states at fixed model parameters. The results are interpreted on the basis of the observed phonon spectra. The latter can easily be explained as Doppler-shifted combination frequencies of breather harmonics and a discreteness-induced perturbation frequency.Received: 18 December 2003, Published online: 15 March 2004PACS: 63.20.Ry Anharmonic lattice modes - 63.20.Pw Localized modes     

Exact solutions for the quintic nonlinear Schrödinger equation with time and space modulated nonlinearities and potentials

In this Letter, by means of similarity transformations, we construct explicit solutions to the quintic nonlinear Schrödinger equation with potentials and nonlinearities depending both on time and on the spatial coordinates. We present the general approach and use it to study some examples and find nontrivial explicit solutions such as periodic (breathers), quasiperiodic and bright and dark soliton solutions.     

Localized nonlinear waves in systems with time- and space-modulated nonlinearities

Using similarity transformations we construct explicit nontrivial solutions of nonlinear Schr?dinger equations with potentials and nonlinearities depending both on time and on the spatial coordinates. We present the general theory and use it to calculate explicitly nontrivial solutions such as periodic (breathers), resonant, or quasiperiodically oscillating solitons. Some implications to the field of matter waves are also discussed.     

Two-Dimensional Breather Lattice Solutions and Compact-Like Discrete Breathers and Their Stability in Discrete Two-Dimensional Monatomic β-FPU Lattice

We restrict our attention to the discrete two-dimensional monatomic β-FPU lattice. We look for two- dimensional breather lattice solutions and two-dimensional compact-like discrete breathers by using trying method and analyze their stability by using Aubry＇s linearly stable theory. We obtain the conditions of existence and stability of two-dimensional breather lattice solutions and two-dimensional compact-like discrete breathers in the discrete two- dimensional monatomic β-FPU lattice.     

Parametrically Driven Solitons in a Chain of Nonlinear Coupled Pendula with an Impurity

The system consisting of a chain of parametrically driven and damped nonlinear coupled pendula with a mass impurity is studied by means of a discrete version of the envelope function approach. An analogue of the parametrically driven damped nonlinear Schodinger equation with an impurity term is derived from the original lattice equation. Analytical solutions of impurity pinned high-frequency breathers and kinks are obtained. The results show that the mass impurity has striking influence on the high-frequency modes. In addition, we perform numerical simulations, showing that the light mass impurity has a stabilizing effect on the chain. The breathers seeding chaos in the homogeneous chain are pinned on a suitable light impurity to pull the chain from the chaotic state.     

Exact transverse solitary and periodic wave solutions in a coupled nonlinear inductor-capacitor network

Through two methods, we investigate the solitary and periodic wave solutions of the differential equation describing a nonlinear coupled two-dimensional discrete electrical lattice. The fixed points of our model equation are examined and the bifurcations of phase portraits of this equation for various values of the front wave velocity are presented. Using the sineGordon expansion method and classic integration, we obtain exact transverse solutions including breathers, bright solitons,and periodic solutions.