Proof of Nishida's conjecture on anharmonic lattices

We prove Nishida's 1971 conjecture stating that almost all low-energetic motions of the anharmonic Fermi-Pasta-Ulam lattice with fixed endpoints are quasi-periodic. The proof is based on the formal computations of Nishida, the KAM theorem, discrete symmetry considerations and an algebraic trick that considerably simplifies earlier results.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure; accepted for publication in Comm. Math. Phy

Symmetry and resonance in periodic FPU chains

The symmetry and resonance properties of the Fermi Pasta Ulam chain with periodic boundary conditions are exploited to construct a near-identity transformation bringing this Hamiltonian system into a particularly simple form. This `Birkhoff-Gustavson normal form' retains the symmetries of the original system and we show that in most cases this allows us to view the periodic FPU Hamiltonian as a perturbation of a nondegenerate Liouville integrable Hamiltonian. According to the KAM theorem this proves the existence of many invariant tori on which motion is quasiperiodic. Experiments confirm this qualitative behaviour. We note that one can not expect it in lower-order resonant Hamiltonian systems. So the FPU chain is an exception and its special features are caused by a combination of special resonances and symmetries.Comment: 21 page

Continuity of the Peierls barrier and robustness of laminations

We study the Peierls barrier for a broad class of monotone variational problems. These problems arise naturally in solid state physics and from Hamiltonian twist maps. We start with the case of a fixed local potential and derive an estimate for the difference of the periodic Peierls barrier and the Peierls barrier of a general rotation number in a given point. A similar estimate was obtained by Mather in the context of twist maps, but our proof is different and applies more generally. It follows from the estimate that the Peierls barrier is continuous at irrational points. Moreover, we show that the Peierls barrier depends continuously on parameters and hence that the property that a monotone variational problem admits a lamination of minimizers for a given rotation number, is open in the C1-topology.Comment: 20 pages, submitted to Ergodic Theory and Dynamical System

Amplified Hopf bifurcations in feed-forward networks

In a previous paper, the authors developed a method for computing normal forms of dynamical systems with a coupled cell network structure. We now apply this theory to one-parameter families of homogeneous feed-forward chains with 2-dimensional cells. Our main result is that Hopf bifurcations in such families generically generate branches of periodic solutions with amplitudes growing like $\lambda^{1/2}$, $\lambda^{1/6}$, $\lambda^{1/18}$, etc. Such amplified Hopf branches were previously found by others in a subclass of feed-forward networks with three cells, first under a normal form assumption and later by explicit computations. We explain here how these bifurcations arise generically in a broader class of feed-forward chains of arbitrary length

Center manifolds of coupled cell networks

Dynamical systems with a network structure can display anomalous bifurcations as a generic phenomenon. As an explanation for this it has been noted that homogeneous networks can be realized as quotient networks of so-called fundamental networks. The class of admissible vector fields for these fundamental networks is equal to the class of equivariant vector fields of the regular representation of a monoid. Using this insight, we set up a framework for center manifold reduction in fundamental networks and their quotients. We then use this machinery to explain the difference in generic bifurcations between three example networks with identical spectral properties and identical robust synchrony spaces

Symmetric invariant manifolds in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam lattice

The Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) lattice with periodic boundary conditions and $n$ particles admits a large group of discrete symmetries. The fixed point sets of these symmetries naturally form invariant symplectic manifolds that are investigated in this short note. For each $k$ dividing $n$ we find $k$ degree of freedom invariant manifolds. They represent short wavelength solutions composed of $k$ Fourier-modes and can be interpreted as embedded lattices with periodic boundary conditions and only $k$ particles. Inside these invariant manifolds other invariant structures and exact solutions are found which represent for instance periodic and quasi-periodic solutions and standing and traveling waves. Some of these results have been found previously by other authors via a study of mode coupling coefficients and recently also by investigating `bushes of normal modes'. The method of this paper is similar to the latter method and much more systematic than the former. We arrive at previously unknown results without any difficult computations. It is shown moreover that similar invariant manifolds exist also in the Klein-Gordon lattice and in the thermodynamic and continuum limits.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Physica

A dichotomy theorem for minimizers of monotone recurrence relations

Variational monotone recurrence relations arise in solid state physics as generalizations of the Frenkel-Kontorova model for a ferromagnetic crystal. For such problems, Aubry-Mather theory establishes the existence of "ground states" or "global minimizers" of arbitrary rotation number. A nearest neighbor crystal model is equivalent to a Hamiltonian twist map. In this case, the global minimizers have a special property: they can only cross once. As a nontrivial consequence, every one of them has the Birkhoff property. In crystals with a larger range of interaction and for higher order recurrence relations, the single crossing property does not hold and there can exist global minimizers that are not Birkhoff. In this paper we investigate the crossings of global minimizers. Under a strong twist condition, we prove the following dichotomy: they are either Birkhoff, and thus very regular, or extremely irregular and nonphysical: they then grow exponentially and oscillate. For Birkhoff minimizers, we also prove certain strong ordering properties that are well known for twist maps

The parameterization method for center manifolds

In this paper, we present a generalization of the parameterization method, introduced by Cabr\'{e}, Fontich and De la Llave, to center manifolds associated to non-hyperbolic fixed points of discrete dynamical systems. As a byproduct, we find a new proof for the existence and regularity of center manifolds. However, in contrast to the classical center manifold theorem, our parameterization method will simultaneously obtain the center manifold and its conjugate center dynamical system. Furthermore, we will provide bounds on the error between approximations of the center manifold and the actual center manifold, as well as bounds for the error in the conjugate dynamical system

Ghost circles in lattice Aubry-Mather theory

Monotone lattice recurrence relations such as the Frenkel-Kontorova lattice, arise in Hamiltonian lattice mechanics as models for fe?rromagnetism and as discretization of elliptic PDEs. Mathematically, they are a multidimensional counterpart of monotone twist maps. They often admit a variational structure, so that the solutions are the stationary points of a formal action function. Classical Aubry-Mather theory establishes the existence of a large collection of solutions of any rotation vector. For irrational rotation vectors this is the well-known Aubry-Mather set. It consists of global minimizers and it may have gaps. In this paper, we study the gradient flow of the formal action function and we prove that every Aubry-Mather set can be interpolated by a continuous gradient-flow invariant family, the so-called "ghost circle". The existence of ghost circles is first proved for rational rotation vectors and Morse action functions. The main technical result is a compactness theorem for ghost circles, based on a parabolic Harnack inequality for the gradient flow, which implies the existence of ghost circles of arbitrary rotation vectors and for arbitrary actions. As a consequence, we can give a simple proof of the fact that when an Aubry-Mather set has a gap, then this gap must be parametrized by minimizers, or contain a non-minimizing solution.Comment: 39 pages, 1 figur