New Approach to Nonlinear Dynamics of Fullerenes and Fullerites

New type of nonlinear (anharmonic) excitations -- bushes of vibrational modes -- in physical systems with point or space symmetry are discussed. All infrared active and Raman active bushes for C60 fulerene are found by means of special group-theoretical methods.Comment: LaTeX, 8 pages, to be published in Fizika Tverdogo Tela, 200

Properties of discrete breathers in graphane from ab initio simulations

A density functional theory (DFT) study of the discrete breathers (DBs) in graphane (fully hydrogenated graphene) was performed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the existence of DBs in a crystalline body from the first-principle simulations. It is found that the DB is a robust, highly localized vibrational mode with one hydrogen atom oscillating with a large amplitude along the direction normal to the graphane plane with all neighboring atoms having much smaller vibration amplitudes. DB frequency decreases with increase in its amplitude, and it can take any value within the phonon gap and can even enter the low-frequency phonon band. The concept of DB is then used to propose an explanation to the recent experimental results on the nontrivial kinetics of graphane dehydrogenation at elevated temperatures.Comment: 20.07.14 Submitted to PhysRev

Stability analysis of dynamical regimes in nonlinear systems with discrete symmetries

We present a theorem that allows to simplify linear stability analysis of periodic and quasiperiodic nonlinear regimes in N-particle mechanical systems (both conservative and dissipative) with different kinds of discrete symmetry. This theorem suggests a decomposition of the linearized system arising in the standard stability analysis into a number of subsystems whose dimensions can be considerably less than that of the full system. As an example of such simplification, we discuss the stability of bushes of modes (invariant manifolds) for the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam chains and prove another theorem about the maximal dimension of the above mentioned subsystems

Stability of Nonlinear Normal Modes in the FPU-β\beta Chain in the Thermodynamic Limit

All possible symmetry-determined nonlinear normal modes (also called by simple periodic orbits, one-mode solutions etc.) in both hard and soft Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-$\beta$ chains are discussed. A general method for studying their stability in the thermodynamic limit, as well as its application for each of the above nonlinear normal modes are presented

Could One Find Petroleum Using Neutrino Oscillations in Matter?

In neutrino physics, it is now widely believed that neutrino oscillations are influenced by the presence of matter, modifying the energy spectrum produced by a neutrino beam traversing the Earth. Here, we will discuss the reverse problem, i.e. what could be learned about the Earth's interior from a single neutrino baseline energy spectrum, especially about the Earth's mantle. We will use a statistical analysis with a low-energy neutrino beam under very optimistic assumptions. At the end, we will note that it is hard to find petroleum with such a method, though it is not too far away from technical feasibility.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, EPL LaTeX. Final version to be published in Europhys. Let

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

Using the Hottest Particles in the Universe to Probe Icy Solar System Worlds

We present results of our Phase 1 NIAC Study to determine the feasibility of developing a competitive, low cost, low power, low mass passive instrument to measure ice depth on outer planet ice moons, such as Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, and Enceladus. Indirect measurements indicate that liquid water oceans are likely present beneath the icy shells of such moons (see e.g.,the JPL press release "The Solar System and Beyond is Awash in Water"), which has important astrobiological implications. Determining the thickness of these ice shells is challenging given spacecraft SWaP (Size, Weight and Power) resources. The current approach uses a suite of instruments, including a high power, massive ice penetrating radar. The instrument under study, called PRIDE (Passive Radio Ice Depth Experiment) exploits a remarkable confluence between methods from the high energy particle physics and the search for extraterrestrial life within the solar system. PRIDE is a passive receiver of a naturally occurring radio frequency (RF) signal generated by interactions of deep penetrating Extremely High Energy (> 10^18 eV) cosmic ray neutrinos. It could measure ice thickness directly, and at a significant savings to spacecraft resources. At RF frequencies the transparency of modeled Europan ice is up to many km, so an RF sensor in orbit can observe neutrino interactions to great depths, and thereby probe the thickness of the ice layer

High Latitude Dynamics of Atmosphere-Ice-Ocean Interactions

Dynamics of atmosphere–ice–ocean interactions in the high latitudes. What: Scientists from 13 countries involved with modeling and observing the coupled high-latitude weather and climate system discussed our current understanding and challenges in polar prediction, extreme events, and coupled processes on scales ranging from cloud and turbulent processes, from micrometers and a few hundred meters to processes on synoptic-scale weather phenomena and pan-Arctic energy budgets of hundreds to thousands of kilometers. Workshop participants also evaluated research needs to improve numerical models with usages spanning from uncoupled to fully coupled models used for weather and climate prediction (http://highlatdynamics.b.uib.no/). When: 23–27 March 2015. Where: Rosendal, Norwa