1. Periodic orbits, localization in normal mode space, and the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam problem
- Author
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Flach, S., Ivanchenko, M.V., Kanakov, O.I., and Mishagin, K.G.
- Subjects
Chaos theory -- Research ,Orbits -- Properties ,Simulation methods -- Methods ,Physics - Abstract
The Fermi-Pasta-Ulam problem was one of the first computational experiments. It has stirred the physics community since, and resisted a simple solution for half a century. The combination of straightforward simulations, efficient computational schemes for finding periodic orbits, and analytical estimates allows us to achieve significant progress. Recent results on q-breathers, which are time-periodic solutions that are localized in the space of normal modes of a lattice and maximize the energy at a certain mode number, are discussed, together with their relation to the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam problem. The localization properties of a q-breather are characterized by intensive parameters, that is, energy densities and wave numbers. By using scaling arguments, q-breather solutions are constructed in systems of arbitrarily large size. Frequency resonances in certain regions of wave number space lead to the complete delocalization of q-breathers. The relation of these features to the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam problem are discussed. [DOI: 10.1119/1.2820396]
- Published
- 2008