Influence of the relative stiffness of second-neighbor interactions on chaotic discrete breathers in a square lattice

Abstract

It is known that the modulational instability of a delocalized nonlinear vibrational mode (DNVM) with frequency outside the phonon band can lead to spontaneous energy localization in a nonlinear lattice on chaotic discrete breathers (CDBs). Considering a β-FPUT square lattice with nearest and next-nearest interactions, the appearance of CDBs is analyzed for different stiffnesses of the first- and second-nearest interactions, k1 and k2, keeping the density of the lattice unchanged. There are two DNVMs in the square lattice with frequencies above the phonon spectrum and both are studied. The appearance of CDBs in the lattice is monitored by calculating the time evolution of the energy localization parameter L and the maximum energy of the particles emax. For solid state physics and materials science, the important range of stiffness parameters is k2<k1, since the stiffness of chemical bonds typically decreases with the distance between atoms. It is found that CDBs form in the square lattice when k2>k1/4. This means that they can form in crystals if the stiffness of the second-neighbor bonds is smaller than that of the first-neighbor bonds, but not too small. Depending on the relation between the anharmonicity parameters of the first- and second-neighbor bonds CDBs can have different polarization.