Discrete breathers in thermal equilibrium: distributions and energy gaps

Maria Eleftheriou, Sergej Flach

Published 2004-09-17Version 1

We study a discrete two-dimensional nonlinear system that allows for discrete breather solutions. We perform a spectral analysis of the lattice dynamics at thermal equilibrium and use a cooling technique to measure the amount of breathers at thermal equilibrium. Our results confirm the existence of an energy threshold for discrete breathers. The cooling method provides with a novel computational technique of measuring and analyzing discrete breather distribution properties in thermal equilibrium.