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. Using both direct numerical computations and a simplified asymptotic model of the oscillator chain, the so-called discrete p-Schrödinger (DpS) equation, we show the existence of discrete breathers and study their spectral properties and mobility. Due to the fully nonlinear character of Hertzian interactions, breathers are found to be much more localized than in classical nonlinear lattices and their motion occurs with less dispersion. In addition, we study numerically the excitation of a traveling breather after an impact at one end of a semi-infinite chain. This case is well described by the DpS equation when local oscillations are faster than binary collisions, a situation occuring e.g. in chains of stiff cantilevers decorated by spherical beads. When a hard anharmonic part is added to the local potential, a new type of traveling breather emerges, showing spontaneous direction-reversing in a spatially homogeneous system. Finally, the interaction of a moving breather with a point defect is also considered in the cradle system. Almost total breather reflections are observed at sufficiently high defect sizes, suggesting potential applications of such systems as shock wave reflectors.
We report on the existence of discrete breathers in a one-dimensional, mass-in-mass chain with linear intersite coupling and nonlinear Hertzian local resonators, which is motivated by recent studies of the dynamics of microspheres adhered to elastic substrates. After predicting theoretically the existence of the discrete breathers in the continuum and anticontinuum limits of intersite coupling, we use numerical continuation to compute a family of breathers interpolating between the two regimes in a finite chain, where the displacement profiles of the breathers are localized around one or two l…
We explore breather propagation in the damped oscillatory chain with essentially nonlinear (non-linearizable) nearest-neighbour coupling. Combination of the damping and the substantially nonlinear coupling leads to rather unusual two-stage pattern of the breather propagation. The first stage occurs at finite fragment of the chain and is characterized by power-law decay of the breather amplitude. The second stage is characterized by extremely small breather amplitudes that decay hyper-exponentially with the site number. Thus, practically, one can speak about finite penetration depth of the brea…
We study a locally resonant granular material in the form of a precompressed Hertzian chain with linear internal resonators. Using an asymptotic reduction, we derive an effective nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) modulation equation. This, in turn, leads us to provide analytical evidence, subsequently corroborated numerically, for the existence of two distinct types of discrete breathers related to acoustic or optical modes: (a) traveling bright breathers with a strain profile exponentially vanishing at infinity and (b) stationary and traveling dark breathers, exponentially localized, time-periodic …
We explore a recently proposed locally resonant granular system bearing harmonic internal resonators in a chain of beads interacting via Hertzian elastic contacts. In this system, we propose the existence of two types of configurations: (a) small-amplitude periodic traveling waves and (b) dark-breather solutions, i.e., exponentially localized, time periodic states mounted on top of a non-vanishing background. We also identify conditions under which the system admits long-lived bright breather solutions. Our results are obtained by means of an asymptotic reduction to a suitably modified version…
We study discrete breathers in prototypical nonlinear oscillator networks subjected to non-harmonic zero-mean periodic excitations. We show how the generation of stationary and moving discrete breathers are optimally controlled by solely varying the impulse transmitted by the periodic excitations, while keeping constant the excitation's amplitude and period. Our theoretical and numerical results show that the enhancer effect of increasing values of the excitation's impulse, in the sense of facilitating the generation of stationary and moving breathers, is due to a correlative increase of the b…
We study ``nanoptera'', which are non-localized solitary waves with exponentially small but non-decaying oscillations, in two singularly-perturbed Hertzian chains with precompression. These two systems are woodpile chains (which we model as systems of Hertzian particles and springs) and diatomic Hertzian chains with alternating masses. We demonstrate that nanoptera arise from Stokes phenomena and appear as special curves, called Stokes curves, are crossed in the complex plane. We use techniques from exponential asymptotics to obtain approximations of the oscillation amplitudes. Our analysis de…
In the aerospace industry the trend for light-weight structures and the resulting complex dynamic behaviours currently challenge vibration engineers. In many cases, these light-weight structures deviate from linear behaviour, and complex nonlinear phenomena can be expected. We consider a cyclically symmetric system of coupled weakly nonlinear undamped oscillators that could be considered a minimal model for different cyclic and symmetric aerospace structures experiencing large deformations. The focus is on localised vibrations that arise from wave envelope modulation of travelling waves. For t…
Dynamics of array of coupled self-excited oscillators is considered. Model of Franklin bell is adopted as a mechanism for the self-excitation. The model allows derivation of exact analytic solutions for discrete breathers (DBs), and extensive exploration of their stability in the space of parameters. The DB solutions exist for all frequencies in the attenuation zone, but lose stability via Neimark-Sacker bifurcation near the boundary of propagation zone. Besides the well-known DBs with exponential localization, the considered system possesses additional and novel type of solutions - discrete b…
We study the emergence of dissipative localized states in phase mismatched singly resonant optical parametric oscillators. These states arise in two different bistable configurations due to the locking of fronts waves connecting the two coexisting states. In one of these configurations the bistabiity is mediated by the coexistence of two uniform states. Here the localized states are organized in a collapsed snaking bifurcation structure. Moreover, these states undergo oscillatory instabilities which lead to a breathing behavior. When the the bistability is related with the coexistence of an un…
We study the formation of localized patterns arising in doubly resonant dispersive optical parametric oscillators. They form through the locking of fronts connecting a continuous-wave and a Turing pattern state. This type of localized pattern can be seen as a slug of the pattern embedded in a homogeneous surrounding. They are organized in terms of a homoclinic snaking bifurcation structure, which is preserved under the modification of the control parameter of the system. We show that, in the presence of phase mismatch, localized patterns can undergo oscillatory instabilities which make them br…
Nonlinearities in lattices with topologically nontrivial band structures can give rise to topological solitons, whose properties differ from both conventional lattice solitons and linear topological boundary states. We show that a Su-Schrieffer-Heeger-type lattice with both nonlinearity and nonreciprocal non-Hermiticity hosts a novel oscillatory soliton, which we call a topological end breather. The end breather is strongly localized to a self-induced topological domain near the end of the lattice, in sharp contrast to the extended topological solitons previously found in one-dimensional latti…
We analyze the stability and dynamics of dissipative Kerr solitons in the presence of a parabolic potential. This potential stabilizes oscillatory and chaotic regimes, favoring the generation of static DKSs. Furthermore, the potential induces the emergence of new dissipative structures, such as asymmetric breathers and chimera-like states. Based on a mode decomposition of these states, we unveil the underlying modal interactions.
We examine the dynamics of strongly localized periodic solutions (discrete breathers) in two-dimensional array of coupled finite one-dimensional chains of oscillators. Localization patterns with both single and multiple localization sites (multibreathers) are considered. The model is scalar, i.e. each particle can move only parallel to the axis of the chain it belongs to. The model involves symmetric parabolic on-site potential with rigid constraints (the displacement domain of each particle is finite) and a linear nearest-neighbor coupling in the chain, and also between the neighbors in adjac…
We explore the dynamics of strongly localized periodic solutions (discrete solitons, or discrete breathers) in a finite one-dimensional chain of asymmetric vibro-impact oscillators. The model involves a parabolic on-site potential with asymmetric rigid constraints (the displacement domain of each particle is finite), and a linear nearest-neighbor coupling. When the particle approaches the constraint, it undergoes an impact (not necessarily elastic), that satisfies Newton impact law. Nonlinearity of the system stems from the impacts; their possible non-elasticity is the sole source of damping i…
The paper addresses compact oscillatory states (compact breathers) in translationally-invariant lattices with flat dispersion bands. The compact breathers appear in such systems even in the linear approximation. If the interactions are nonlinear, but comply with the flat-band symmetry, the compact breather solutions exist, but can lose their stability for certain parameter values. As benchmark nonlinear potentials, we use the $β$-FPU (Fermi-Pasta-Ulam) and vibro-impact models. Loss of stability is numerically observed to occur through either pitchfork or Hopf bifurcations. The loss of stabilit…
A discrete and periodic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation, coupled to a discrete mean equation, is systematically derived from a driven and dissipative oscillator model, close to the onset of a supercritical Hopf bifurcation. The oscillator model is inspired by recent experiments exploring active vibrations of quasi-one-dimensional lattices of self-propelled millimetric droplets bouncing on a vertically vibrating fluid bath. Our systematic derivation provides a direct link between the constitutive properties of the lattice system and the coefficients of the resultant amplitude equations, paving…
Small-amplitude weakly coupled oscillators of the Klein-Gordon lattices are approximated by equations of the discrete nonlinear Schrodinger 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 applications of the discrete nonlinear Schrodinger …
We propose a new mechanism for stabilization of confined modes in lasers and semiconductor microcavities holding exciton-polariton condensates, with spatially uniform linear gain, cubic loss, and cubic self-focusing or defocusing nonlinearity. We demonstrated that the commonly known background instability driven by the linear gain can be suppressed by a combination of a harmonic-oscillator trapping potential and effective diffusion. Systematic numerical analysis of one- and two-dimensional (1D and 2D) versions of the model reveals a variety of stable modes, including stationary ones, breathers…
