25 research outputs found
Nonlinear Lattice Waves in Random Potentials
Localization of waves by disorder is a fundamental physical problem
encompassing a diverse spectrum of theoretical, experimental and numerical
studies in the context of metal-insulator transition, quantum Hall effect,
light propagation in photonic crystals, and dynamics of ultra-cold atoms in
optical arrays. Large intensity light can induce nonlinear response, ultracold
atomic gases can be tuned into an interacting regime, which leads again to
nonlinear wave equations on a mean field level. The interplay between disorder
and nonlinearity, their localizing and delocalizing effects is currently an
intriguing and challenging issue in the field. We will discuss recent advances
in the dynamics of nonlinear lattice waves in random potentials. In the absence
of nonlinear terms in the wave equations, Anderson localization is leading to a
halt of wave packet spreading.
Nonlinearity couples localized eigenstates and, potentially, enables
spreading and destruction of Anderson localization due to nonintegrability,
chaos and decoherence. The spreading process is characterized by universal
subdiffusive laws due to nonlinear diffusion. We review extensive computational
studies for one- and two-dimensional systems with tunable nonlinearity power.
We also briefly discuss extensions to other cases where the linear wave
equation features localization: Aubry-Andre localization with quasiperiodic
potentials, Wannier-Stark localization with dc fields, and dynamical
localization in momentum space with kicked rotors.Comment: 45 pages, 19 figure
Discrete breathers in polyethylene chain
The existence of discrete breathers (DBs), or intrinsic localized modes
(localized periodic oscillations of transzigzag) is shown. In the localization
region periodic contraction-extension of valence C-C bonds occurs which is
accompanied by decrease-increase of valence angles. It is shown that the
breathers present in thermalized chain and their contribution dependent on
temperature has been revealed.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Tunneling of quantum rotobreathers
We analyze the quantum properties of a system consisting of two nonlinearly
coupled pendula. This non-integrable system exhibits two different symmetries:
a permutational symmetry (permutation of the pendula) and another one related
to the reversal of the total momentum of the system. Each of these symmetries
is responsible for the existence of two kinds of quasi-degenerated states. At
sufficiently high energy, pairs of symmetry-related states glue together to
form quadruplets. We show that, starting from the anti-continuous limit,
particular quadruplets allow us to construct quantum states whose properties
are very similar to those of classical rotobreathers. By diagonalizing
numerically the quantum Hamiltonian, we investigate their properties and show
that such states are able to store the main part of the total energy on one of
the pendula. Contrary to the classical situation, the coupling between pendula
necessarily introduces a periodic exchange of energy between them with a
frequency which is proportional to the energy splitting between
quasi-degenerated states related to the permutation symmetry. This splitting
may remain very small as the coupling strength increases and is a decreasing
function of the pair energy. The energy may be therefore stored in one pendulum
during a time period very long as compared to the inverse of the internal
rotobreather frequency.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, REVTeX4 styl
Re-localization due to finite response times in a nonlinear Anderson chain
We study a disordered nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with an additional
relaxation process having a finite response time . Without the relaxation
term, , this model has been widely studied in the past and numerical
simulations showed subdiffusive spreading of initially localized excitations.
However, recently Caetano et al.\ (EPJ. B \textbf{80}, 2011) found that by
introducing a response time , spreading is suppressed and any
initially localized excitation will remain localized. Here, we explain the lack
of subdiffusive spreading for by numerically analyzing the energy
evolution. We find that in the presence of a relaxation process the energy
drifts towards the band edge, which enforces the population of fewer and fewer
localized modes and hence leads to re-localization. The explanation presented
here is based on previous findings by the authors et al.\ (PRE \textbf{80},
2009) on the energy dependence of thermalized states.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure
Strong and weak chaos in weakly nonintegrable many-body Hamiltonian systems
We study properties of chaos in generic one-dimensional nonlinear Hamiltonian
lattices comprised of weakly coupled nonlinear oscillators, by numerical
simulations of continuous-time systems and symplectic maps. For small coupling,
the measure of chaos is found to be proportional to the coupling strength and
lattice length, with the typical maximal Lyapunov exponent being proportional
to the square root of coupling. This strong chaos appears as a result of
triplet resonances between nearby modes. In addition to strong chaos we observe
a weakly chaotic component having much smaller Lyapunov exponent, the measure
of which drops approximately as a square of the coupling strength down to
smallest couplings we were able to reach. We argue that this weak chaos is
linked to the regime of fast Arnold diffusion discussed by Chirikov and
Vecheslavov. In disordered lattices of large size we find a subdiffusive
spreading of initially localized wave packets over larger and larger number of
modes. The relations between the exponent of this spreading and the exponent in
the dependence of the fast Arnold diffusion on coupling strength are analyzed.
We also trace parallels between the slow spreading of chaos and deterministic
rheology.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figure