Stability Of Breathers Research Articles

Stability of Breathers for a Periodic Klein-Gordon Equation.

The existence of breather-type solutions, i.e., solutions that are periodic in time and exponentially localized in space, is a very unusual feature for continuum, nonlinear wave-type equations. Following an earlier work establishing a theorem for the existence of such structures, we bring to bear a combination of analysis-inspired numerical tools that permit the construction of such waveforms to a desired numerical accuracy. In addition, this enables us to explore their numerical stability. Our computations show that for the spatially heterogeneous form of the ϕ4 model considered herein, the breather solutions are generically unstable. Their instability seems to generically favor the motion of the relevant structures. We expect that these results may inspire further studies towards the identification of stable continuous breathers in spatially heterogeneous, continuum nonlinear wave equation models.

Transient modes for the coupled modified Korteweg-de Vries equations with negative cubic nonlinearity: Stability and applications of breathers.

Dynamics and properties of breathers for the modified Korteweg-de Vries equations with negative cubic nonlinearities are studied. While breathers and rogue waves are absent in a single component waveguide for the negative nonlinearity case, coupling can induce regimes of modulation instabilities. Such instabilities are correlated with the existence of rogue waves and breathers. Similar scenarios have been demonstrated previously for coupled systems of nonlinear Schrödinger and Hirota equations. Both real- and complex-valued modified Korteweg-de Vries equations will be treated, which are applicable to stratified fluids and optical waveguides, respectively. One special family of breathers for coupled, complex-valued equations is derived analytically. Robustness and stability of breathers are studied computationally. Knowledge of the growth rates of modulation instability of plane waves provides an instructive prelude on the robustness of breathers to deterministic perturbations. A theoretical formulation of the linear instability of breathers will involve differential equations with periodic coefficient, i.e., a Floquet analysis. Breathers associated with larger eigenvalues of the monodromy matrix tend to suffer greater instability and increased tendency of distortion. Predictions based on modulation instability and Floquet analysis show excellent agreements. The same trend is obtained for simulations conducted with random noise disturbances. Linear approaches like modulation instabilities and Floquet analysis, thus, generate a very illuminating picture of the nonlinear dynamics.

Long-time stability of breathers in Hamiltonian -symmetric lattices

We consider the Hamiltonian version of a -symmetric lattice that describes dynamics of coupled pendula under a resonant periodic force. Using the asymptotic limit of a weak coupling between the pendula, we prove the nonlinear long-time stability of breathers (time-periodic solutions localized in the lattice) by using the Lyapunov method. Breathers are saddle points of the extended energy function, which are located between the continuous bands of positive and negative energy. Despite not rendering the energy minima, the breathers are shown to admit an approximate Lyapunov function which helps us to estimate evolution of perturbations on a long but finite time interval. The nonlinear stability analysis becomes possible for the -symmetric lattice only because of the existence of a Hamiltonian structure.

Approximation of small-amplitude weakly coupled oscillators by discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equations

Small-amplitude weakly coupled oscillators of the Klein–Gordon lattices are approximated by equations of the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger type. We show how to justify this approximation by two methods, which have been very popular in the recent literature. The first method relies on a priori energy estimates and multi-scale decompositions. The second method is based on a resonant normal form theorem. We show that although the two methods are different in the implementation, they produce equivalent results as the end product. We also discuss the applications of the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation in the context of existence and stability of breathers of the Klein–Gordon lattice.

Breathers in Hamiltonian PT -Symmetric Chains of Coupled Pendula under a Resonant Periodic Force

We derive a Hamiltonian version of the PT -symmetric discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation that describes synchronized dynamics of coupled pendula driven by a periodic movement of their common strings. In the limit of weak coupling between the pendula, we classify the existence and spectral stability of breathers (time-periodic solutions localized in the lattice) supported near one pair of coupled pendula. Orbital stability or instability of breathers is proved in a subset of the existence region.

Dynamics of complex-valued modified KdV solitons with applications to the stability of breathers

We study the long-time dynamics of complex-valued modified Korteweg-de Vries (mKdV) solitons, which are recognized because they blow-up in finite time. We establish stability properties at the H^1 level of regularity, uniformly away from each blow-up point. These new properties are used to prove that mKdV breathers are H^1 stable, improving our previous result, where we only proved H^2 stability. The main new ingredient of the proof is the use of a B\"acklund transformation which links the behavior of breathers, complex-valued solitons and small real-valued solutions of the mKdV equation. We also prove that negative energy breathers are asymptotically stable. Since we do not use any method relying on the Inverse Scattering Transformation, our proof works even under rough perturbations, provided a corresponding local well-posedness theory is available.

Multi-peak breather stability in a dissipative discrete Nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation

We study the stability of breather solutions of a dissipative cubic discrete NLS with localized forcing. The breathers are similar to the ones found for the Hamiltonian limit of the system. In the case of linearly stable multi-peak breathers the combination of dissipation and localized forcing also leads to stability, and the apparent damping of internal modes that make the energy around multi-peak breathers nondefinite. This stabilizing effect is however accompanied by overdamping for relatively small values of the dissipation parameter, and the appearance of near-zero stable eigenvalues.

Asymptotic Stability of Breathers in Some Hamiltonian Networks of Weakly Coupled Oscillators

We consider a Hamiltonian chain of weakly coupled anharmonic oscillators. It is well known that if the coupling is weak enough then the system admits families of periodic solutions exponentially localized in space (breathers). In this paper we prove asymptotic stability in energy space of such solutions. The proof is based on two steps: first we use canonical perturbation theory to put the system in a suitable normal form in a neighborhood of the breather, second we use dispersion in order to prove asymptotic stability. The main limitation of the result rests in the fact that the nonlinear part of the on site potential is required to have a zero of order 8 at the origin. From a technical point of view the theory differs from that developed for Hamiltonian PDEs due to the fact that the breather is not a relative equilibrium of the system.

Breathers in oscillator chains with Hertzian interactions

We prove nonexistence of breathers (spatially localized and time-periodic oscillations) for a class of Fermi–Pasta–Ulam lattices representing an uncompressed chain of beads interacting via Hertz’s contact forces. We then consider the setting in which an additional on-site potential is present, motivated by the Newton’s cradle under the effect of gravity. We show the existence of breathers in such systems, using both direct numerical computations and a simplified asymptotic model of the oscillator chain, the so-called discrete p-Schrödinger (DpS) equation. From a spectral analysis, we determine breather stability and explain their translational motion under very weak perturbations. Numerical simulations demonstrate the excitation of traveling breathers from simple initial conditions corresponding to small perturbations at the first site of the chain. This regime is well described by the DpS equation, and is found to occur for physical parameter values in granular chains with stiff local oscillators. In addition, traveling breather propagation can be hindered or even suppressed in other parameter regimes. For soft on-site potentials, a part of the energy remains trapped near the boundary and forms a surface mode. For hard on-site potentials and large to moderate initial excitations, one observes a “boomeron”, i.e. a traveling breather displaying spontaneous direction-reversing motion. In addition, dispersion is significantly enhanced when a precompression is applied to the chain. Depending on parameters, this results either in the absence of traveling breather excitation on long time scales, or in the formation of a “nanopteron” characterized by a sizable wave train lying at both sides of the localized excitation.

On the nonlinear stability of mKdV breathers

Breather modes of the mKdV equation on the real line are known to be elastic under collisions with other breathers and solitons. This fact indicates very strong stability properties of breathers. In this communication we describe a rigorous, mathematical proof of the stability of breathers under a class of small perturbations. Our proof involves the existence of a nonlinear equation satisfied by all breather profiles, and a new Lyapunov functional which controls the dynamics of small perturbations and instability modes. In order to construct such a functional, we work in a subspace of the energy one. However, our proof introduces new ideas in order to attack the corresponding stability problem in the energy space. Some remarks about the sine-Gordon case are also considered.

Different Kinds of Discrete Breathers in Three Types of One-Dimensional Models

The dynamics of different kinds of discrete breathers in three types of one-dimensional monatomic chains with on-site and inter-site potentials are investigated. The existence and evolution of symmetric breather, antisymmetric breather, and multibreather in one-dimensional models are proved by using rotating wave approximation, local anharmonic approximation, and the numerical method. The linear stability of these breathers is investigated by using Lyapunov stable analysis. The localization and stability of breathers in three types of models correlate closely to the system nonlinear parameter β.

Stability of breathers in simple mechanical models for DNA

This work studies through the Floquet theory the stability of breathers generated by the anti-continuous limit. We used the Peyrard-Bishop model for DNA and two kinds of nonlinear potential: the Morse potential and a potential with a hump. The comparison of their stability was done in function of the coupling parameter. We also investigate the dynamic behaviour of the system in stable and unstable regions. Qualitatively, the dynamic of mobile breathers resembles DNA.

Numerical approach to transient dynamics of oscillatory pulses in a bistable reaction–diffusion system

Various types of interesting pattern dynamics such as self-replicating patterns and spiral patterns have been observed in reaction–diffusion (RD) systems. In recent years, periodically oscillating pulses called breathers have been found in several RD systems. In addition, the transient dynamics from traveling breathers to standing breathers have been numerically investigated, and the existence and stability of breathers have been studied by (semi-)rigorous approaches. However, the mechanism of transient dynamics has yet to be clarified, even using numerical approaches, since the global bifurcation diagram of breathers has not been obtained. In this article, we propose a numerical scheme that enables unstable breathers to be tracked. By using the global bifurcation diagram, we numerically investigate the global behavior of unstable manifolds emanating from the bifurcation point associated with the transient dynamics and clarify the onset mechanism of the transient dynamics.

Linear stability of breathers of the discrete NLS

We consider real breather solutions of the discrete cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation near the limit of vanishing coupling between the lattice sites and present leading order asymptotics for the eigenvalues of the linearization around the breathers. The expansion is given in fractional powers of the intersite coupling parameter and determines the linear stability of the breathers. The method we use relies on normal form ideas and applies to one and higher-dimensional lattices. We also present some examples.

Torus doubling resonances and breather stability

Discrete breathers that arise in doped alkali halides lead us to study two properties of these localized excitations. First, we note a bifurcation phenomenon, which we dub torus doubling, in which resonant coupling in the nonlinear modes induces a period doubling of the phase space structure. Second, we find that although two-frequency breather excitations are not in principle localized (because of phonon resonances), in practice they can survive 10;{9} times the characteristic time scale and give rise to marked physical phenomena, including the one that brought us to this study, the anomalous decay of luminescence.

Breather Stability in One Dimensional Lattices with a Symmetric Morse Potential

Harmonic one dimensional lattice with an additional Morse potential on site has been used to describe DNA macromolecules properties. We analyze a modification of this lattice introducing a symmetric Morse potential. The existence and stability of the breather is studied in this modified system. We obtain harmonic bifurcation and determine the effective mass of the mobile breather.

Low-frequency breathers in polyethylene crystal

It is shown both analytically and numerically that three-dimensional low-frequency (acoustic) breathers identified as localized coupled bend and twist nonlinear waves can exist in polyethylene (PE) crystal. Their motion along the chain is accompanied by the simultaneous excitation of both (“zig” and “zag”) sub-chains forming PE macromolecule. In the region of a breather one can observe intensive out-of-plane motion of carbon atoms and relatively small displacements in the plane of the zigzag. In spite of this smallness, the “secondary” nonlinear effects turn out to be crucial for the existence of breathers. Both the existence and stability of low-frequency breathers in free motion are confirmed by computer simulation, using the Molecular Dynamics (MD) procedure. The stability of breathers with respect to thermal excitations as well as to mutual collisions and collisions with optical breathers is also discussed. We study also the breathers’ formation in different conditions. It turns out that the frequencies and extensions of the breathers can be varied in very narrow regions predicted by our analytical solution.

Breathers and thermal relaxation as a temporal process: A possible way to detect breathers in experimental situations

Breather stability and longevity in thermally relaxing nonlinear arrays is investigated under the scrutiny of the analysis and tools employed for time series and state reconstruction of a dynamical system. We briefly review the methods used in the analysis and characterize a breather in terms of the results obtained with such methods. Our present work focuses on spontaneously appearing breathers in thermal Fermi-Pasta-Ulam arrays but we believe that the conclusions are general enough to describe many other related situations; the particular case described in detail is presented as another example of systems where three incommensurable frequencies dominate their chaotic dynamics (reminiscent of the Ruelle-Takens scenario for the appearance of chaotic behavior in nonlinear systems). This characterization may also be of great help for the discovery of breathers in experimental situations where the temporal evolution of a local variable (like the site energy) is the only available/measured data.

Existence and stability of breathers in lattices of weakly coupled two-dimensional near-integrable Hamiltonian oscillators

A method of proving the existence of breathers in lattices of two-dimensional weakly coupled Hamiltonian oscillators is presented. This method has the advantage that provides a first approximation of the initial conditions of the breather solution together with its linear stability. Since the proof relies on the use of action-angle variables, we also present a method to perform the calculations without knowledge of the specific transformation. We illustrate the results in a lattice of quartic oscillators and in another one that consists of coupled 2D Morse oscillators. Finally, we examine the possibility of extending these results in lattices of more than two degrees of freedom per lattice site.

Existence and Stability of Localized Oscillations in 1-Dimensional Lattices With Soft-Spring and Hard-Spring Potentials

In this paper, we use the method of homoclinic orbits to study the existence and stability of discrete breathers, i.e., spatially localized and time-periodic oscillations of a class of one-dimensional (1D) nonlinear lattices. The localization can be at one or several sites and the 1D lattices we investigate here have linear interaction between nearest neighbors and a quartic on-site potential Vu=12Ku2±14u4, where the (+) sign corresponds to “hard spring” and (−) to “soft spring” interactions. These localized oscillations—when they are stable under small perturbations—are very important for physical systems because they seriously affect the energy transport properties of the lattice. Discrete breathers have recently been created and observed in many experiments, as, e.g., in the Josephson junction arrays, optical waveguides, and low-dimensional surfaces. After showing how to construct them, we use Floquet theory to analyze their linear (local) stability, along certain curves in parameter space (α,ω), where α is the coupling constant and ω the frequency of the breather. We then apply the Smaller Alignment Index method (SALI) to investigate more globally their stability properties in phase space. Comparing our results for the ± cases of Vu, we find that the regions of existence and stability of breathers of the “hard spring” lattice are considerably larger than those of the “soft spring” system. This is mainly due to the fact that the conditions for resonances between breathers and linear modes are much less restrictive in the former than the latter case. Furthermore, the bifurcation properties are quite different in the two cases: For example, the phenomenon of complex instability, observed only for the “soft spring” system, destabilizes breathers without giving rise to new ones, while the system with “hard springs” exhibits curves in parameter space along which the number of monodromy matrix eigenvalues on the unit circle is constant and hence breather solutions preserve their stability character.