Efficient integration of the variational equations of multi-dimensional Hamiltonian systems: Application to the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam lattice

We study the problem of efficient integration of variational equations in multi-dimensional Hamiltonian systems. For this purpose, we consider a Runge-Kutta-type integrator, a Taylor series expansion method and the so-called `Tangent Map' (TM) technique based on symplectic integration schemes, and apply them to the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam $\beta$ (FPU-$\beta$) lattice of $N$ nonlinearly coupled oscillators, with $N$ ranging from 4 to 20. The fast and accurate reproduction of well-known behaviors of the Generalized Alignment Index (GALI) chaos detection technique is used as an indicator for the efficiency of the tested integration schemes. Implementing the TM technique--which shows the best performance among the tested algorithms--and exploiting the advantages of the GALI method, we successfully trace the location of low-dimensional tori.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure

Probing the local dynamics of periodic orbits by the generalized alignment index (GALI) method

As originally formulated, the Generalized Alignment Index (GALI) method of chaos detection has so far been applied to distinguish quasiperiodic from chaotic motion in conservative nonlinear dynamical systems. In this paper we extend its realm of applicability by using it to investigate the local dynamics of periodic orbits. We show theoretically and verify numerically that for stable periodic orbits the GALIs tend to zero following particular power laws for Hamiltonian flows, while they fluctuate around non-zero values for symplectic maps. By comparison, the GALIs of unstable periodic orbits tend exponentially to zero, both for flows and maps. We also apply the GALIs for investigating the dynamics in the neighborhood of periodic orbits, and show that for chaotic solutions influenced by the homoclinic tangle of unstable periodic orbits, the GALIs can exhibit a remarkable oscillatory behavior during which their amplitudes change by many orders of magnitude. Finally, we use the GALI method to elucidate further the connection between the dynamics of Hamiltonian flows and symplectic maps. In particular, we show that, using for the computation of GALIs the components of deviation vectors orthogonal to the direction of motion, the indices of stable periodic orbits behave for flows as they do for maps.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures (accepted for publication in Int. J. of Bifurcation and Chaos

A new class of integrable Lotka–Volterra systems

A parameter-dependent class of Hamiltonian (generalized) Lotka–Volterra systems is considered. We prove that this class contains Liouville integrable as well as superintegrable cases according to particular choices of the parameters. We determine sufficient conditions which result in integrable behavior, while we numerically explore the complementary cases, where these analytically derived conditions are not satisfied

Energy localization on q-tori, long term stability and the interpretation of FPU recurrences

We focus on two approaches that have been proposed in recent years for the explanation of the so-called FPU paradox, i.e. the persistence of energy localization in the `low-q' Fourier modes of Fermi-Pasta-Ulam nonlinear lattices, preventing equipartition among all modes at low energies. In the first approach, a low-frequency fraction of the spectrum is initially excited leading to the formation of `natural packets' exhibiting exponential stability, while in the second, emphasis is placed on the existence of `q-breathers', i.e periodic continuations of the linear modes of the lattice, which are exponentially localized in Fourier space. Following ideas of the latter, we introduce in this paper the concept of `q-tori' representing exponentially localized solutions on low-dimensional tori and use their stability properties to reconcile these two approaches and provide a more complete explanation of the FPU paradox.Comment: 38 pages, 7 figure

Energy transmission in Hamiltonian systems of globally interacting particles with Klein-Gordon on-site potentials

We consider a family of 1-dimensional Hamiltonian systems consisting of a large number of particles with on-site potentials and global (long range) interactions. The particles are initially at rest at the equilibrium position, and are perturbed sinusoidally at one end using Dirichlet data, while at the other end we place an absorbing boundary to simulate a semi-infinite medium. Using such a lattice with quadratic particle interactions and Klein-Gordon type on-site potential, we use a parameter 0 ≤ α < ∞as a measure of the “length” of interactions, and show that there is a sharp threshold above which energy is transmitted in the form of large amplitude nonlinear modes, as long as driving frequencies Ω lie in the forbidden band-gap of the system. This process is called nonlinear supratransmission and is investigated here numerically to show that it occurs at higher amplitudes the longer the range of interactions, reaching a maximum at a value α = αmax . 1.5 that depends on Ω. Below this αmax supratransmission thresholds decrease sharply to values lower than the nearest neighbor α = ∞ limit. We give a plausible argument for this phenomenon and conjecture that similar results are present in related systems such as the sine-Gordon, the nonlinear Klein-Gordon and the double sine-Gordon type

Discrete Symmetry and Stability in Hamiltonian Dynamics

In this tutorial we address the existence and stability of periodic and quasiperiodic orbits in N degree of freedom Hamiltonian systems and their connection with discrete symmetries. Of primary importance in our study are the nonlinear normal modes (NNMs), i.e periodic solutions which represent continuations of the system's linear normal modes in the nonlinear regime. We examine the existence of such solutions and discuss different methods for constructing them and studying their stability under fixed and periodic boundary conditions. In the periodic case, we employ group theoretical concepts to identify a special type of NNMs called one-dimensional "bushes". We describe how to use linear combinations such NNMs to construct s(>1)-dimensional bushes of quasiperiodic orbits, for a wide variety of Hamiltonian systems and exploit the symmetries of the linearized equations to simplify the study of their destabilization. Applying this theory to the Fermi Pasta Ulam (FPU) chain, we review a number of interesting results, which have appeared in the recent literature. We then turn to an analytical and numerical construction of quasiperiodic orbits, which does not depend on the symmetries or boundary conditions. We demonstrate that the well-known "paradox" of FPU recurrences may be explained in terms of the exponential localization of the energies Eq of NNM's excited at the low part of the frequency spectrum, i.e. q=1,2,3,.... Thus, we show that the stability of these low-dimensional manifolds called q-tori is related to the persistence or FPU recurrences at low energies. Finally, we discuss a novel approach to the stability of orbits of conservative systems, the GALIk, k=2,...,2N, by means of which one can determine accurately and efficiently the destabilization of q-tori, leading to the breakdown of recurrences and the equipartition of energy, at high values of the total energy E.Comment: 50 pages, 13 figure

Regular and chaotic orbits in barred galaxies - I. Applying the SALI/GALI method to explore their distribution in several models

The distinction between chaotic and regular behavior of orbits in galactic models is an important issue and can help our understanding of galactic dynamical evolution. In this paper, we deal with this issue by applying the techniques of the Smaller (and Generalized) ALingment Indices, SALI (and GALI), to extensive samples of orbits obtained by integrating numerically the equations of motion in a barred galaxy potential. We estimate first the fraction of chaotic and regular orbits for the two-degree-of-freedom (DOF) case (where the galaxy extends only in the (x,y)-space) and show that it is a non-monotonic function of the energy. For the three DOF extension of this model (in the z-direction), we give similar estimates, both by exploring different sets of initial conditions and by varying the model parameters, like the mass, size and pattern speed of the bar. We find that regular motion is more abundant at small radial distances from the center of the galaxy, where the relative non-axisymmetric forcing is relatively weak, and at small distances from the equatorial plane, where trapping around the stable periodic orbits is important. We also find that the variation of the bar pattern speed, within a realistic range of values, does not affect much the phase space's fraction of regular and chaotic motions. Using different sets of initial conditions, we show that chaotic motion is dominant in galaxy models whose bar component is more massive, while models with a fatter or thicker bar present generally more regular behavior. Finally, we find that the fraction of orbits that are chaotic correlates strongly with the bar strength.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, MNRAS, in pres

Energy transmission in Hamiltonian systems of globally interacting particles with Klein-Gordon on-site potentials

We consider a family of 1-dimensional Hamiltonian systems consisting of a large number of particles with on-site potentials and global (long range) interactions. The particles are initially at rest at the equilibrium position, and are perturbed sinusoidally at one end using Dirichlet data, while at the other end we place an absorbing boundary to simulate a semi-infinite medium. Using such a lattice with quadratic particle interactions and Klein-Gordon type on-site potential, we use a parameter 0 ≤ α < ∞as a measure of the “length” of interactions, and show that there is a sharp threshold above which energy is transmitted in the form of large amplitude nonlinear modes, as long as driving frequencies Ω lie in the forbidden band-gap of the system. This process is called nonlinear supratransmission and is investigated here numerically to show that it occurs at higher amplitudes the longer the range of interactions, reaching a maximum at a value α = αmax . 1.5 that depends on Ω. Below this αmax supratransmission thresholds decrease sharply to values lower than the nearest neighbor α = ∞ limit. We give a plausible argument for this phenomenon and conjecture that similar results are present in related systems such as the sine-Gordon, the nonlinear Klein-Gordon and the double sine-Gordon type

Dynamics and statistics of the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam β-model with different ranges of particle interactions

In the present work we study the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) β-model involving long-range interactions (LRI) in both the quadratic and quartic potentials, by introducing two independent exponents α_1 and α_2 respectively, which make the {forces decay} with distance r. Our results demonstrate that weak chaos, in the sense of decreasing Lyapunov exponents, and q-Gaussian probability density functions (pdfs) of sums of the momenta, occurs only when long-range interactions are included in the quartic part. More importantly, for 01, as N goes to infinity, suggesting that these pdfs persist in that limit. On the other hand, when long-range interactions are imposed only on the quadratic part, strong chaos and purely Gaussian pdfs are always obtained for the momenta. We have also focused on similar pdfs for the particle energies and have obtained (q_E)-exponentials (with q_E>1) when the quartic-term interactions are long-ranged, otherwise we get the standard Boltzmann-Gibbs weight, with q=1. The values of q_E coincide, within small discrepancies, with the values of q obtained by the momentum distributions