Stefano Lepri

Thermal conduction in classical low-dimensional lattices

Abstract Deriving macroscopic phenomenological laws of irreversible thermodynamics from simple microscopic models is one of the tasks of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. We consider stationary energy transport in crystals with reference to simple mathematical models consisting of coupled oscillators on a lattice. The role of lattice dimensionality on the breakdown of the Fouriers law is discussed and some universal quantitative aspects are emphasized: the divergence of the finite-size thermal conductivity is characterized by universal laws in one and two dimensions. Equilibrium and non-equilibrium molecular dynamics methods are presented along with a critical survey of previous numerical results. Analytical results for the non-equilibrium dynamics can be obtained in the harmonic chain where the role of disorder and localization can be also understood. The traditional kinetic approach, based on the Boltzmann–Peierls equation is also briefly sketched with reference to one-dimensional chains. Simple toy models can be defined in which the conductivity is finite. Anomalous transport in integrable non-linear systems is briefly discussed. Finally, possible future research themes are outlined.

On the anomalous thermal conductivity of one-dimensional lattices

The divergence of the thermal conductivity in the thermodynamic limit is thoroughly investigated. The divergence law is consistently determined with two different numerical approaches based on equilibrium and nonequilibrium simulations. A possible explanation in the framework of linear-response theory is also presented, which traces back the physical origin of this anomaly to the slow diffusion of the energy of long-wavelength Fourier modes. Finally, the results of dynamical simulations are compared with the predictions of mode-coupling theory.

Nonlinear supratransmission and bistability in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam model

The recently discovered phenomenon of nonlinear supratransmission consists in a sudden increase of the amplitude of a transmitted wave triggered by the excitation of nonlinear localized modes of the medium. We examine this process for the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam chain, sinusoidally driven at one edge and damped at the other. The supratransmission regime occurs for driving frequencies above the upper band edge and originates from direct moving discrete breather creation. We derive approximate analytical estimates of the supratransmission threshold, which are in excellent agreement with numerics. When analyzing the long-time behavior, we discover that, below the supratransmission threshold, a conducting stationary state coexists with the insulating one. We explain the bistable nature of the energy flux in terms of the excitation of quasiharmonic extended waves. This leads to the analytical calculation of a lower-transmission threshold which is also in reasonable agreement with numerical experiments.

High-dimensional chaos in delayed dynamical systems

Abstract We introduce a general class of iterative delay maps to model high-dimensional chaos in dynamical systems with delayed feedback. The class includes as particular cases systems with a linear local dynamics. We report analytic and numerical results on the scaling laws of Lyapunov spectra with a number of degrees of freedom. Invariant measure is computed through a self-consistent Frobenius-Perron formalism, which allows also a recalculation of the maximum Lyapunov exponent in good agreement with the one measured directly.

Statistical regimes of random laser fluctuations

Statistical fluctuations of the light emitted from amplifying random media are studied theoretically and numerically. The characteristic scales of the diffusive motion of light lead to Gaussian or power-law (Levy) distributed fluctuations depending on external control parameters. In the Levy regime, the output pulse is highly irregular leading to huge deviations from a mean-field description. Monte Carlo simulations of a simplified model which includes the population of the medium demonstrate the two statistical regimes and provide a comparison with dynamical rate equations. Different statistics of the fluctuations helps to explain recent experimental observations reported in the literature.

Studies of thermal conductivity in Fermi–Pasta–Ulam-like lattices

The pioneering computer simulations of the energy relaxation mechanisms performed by Fermi, Pasta, and Ulam (FPU) can be considered as the first attempt of understanding energy relaxation and thus heat conduction in lattices of nonlinear oscillators. In this paper we describe the most recent achievements about the divergence of heat conductivity with the system size in one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional FPU-like lattices. The anomalous behavior is particularly evident at low energies, where it is enhanced by the quasiharmonic character of the lattice dynamics. Remarkably, anomalies persist also in the strongly chaotic region where long-time tails develop in the current autocorrelation function. A modal analysis of the 1D case is also presented in order to gain further insight about the role played by boundary conditions.

Relaxation of classical many-body Hamiltonians in one dimension.

The relaxation of Fourier modes of Hamiltonian chains close to equilibrium is studied in the framework of a simple mode-coupling theory. Explicit estimates of the dependence of relevant time scales on the energy density ~or temperature! and on the wave number of the initial excitation are given. They are in agreement with previous numerical findings on the approach to equilibrium and turn out to be also useful in the qualitative interpretation of them. The theory is compared with molecular dynamics results in the case of the quartic Fermi-Pasta-Ulam potential. @S1063-651X~98!05011-9#

Energy transport in anharmonic lattices close to and far from equilibrium

Abstract The problem of stationary heat transport in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam chain is numerically studied showing that the conductivity diverges in the thermodynamic limit. Simulations were performed with time-reversible thermostats, both for small and large temperature gradients. In the latter case, fluctuations of the heat current are shown to be in agreement with the recent conjectures of Gallavotti and Cohen [Phys. Rev. Lett. 74 (1995) 2694].

Universality of anomalous one-dimensional heat conductivity.

In one and two dimensions, transport coefficients may diverge in the thermodynamic limit due to long-time correlation of the corresponding currents. The effective asymptotic behavior is addressed with reference to the problem of heat transport in one-dimensional crystals, modeled by chains of classical nonlinear oscillators. Extensive accurate equilibrium and nonequilibrium numerical simulations confirm that the finite-size thermal conductivity diverges with system size L as kappa proportional to L alpha. However, the exponent alpha deviates systematically from the theoretical prediction alpha=1/3 proposed in a recent paper [O. Narayan and S. Ramaswamy, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 200601 (2002)].

Transmission thresholds in time-periodically driven nonlinear disordered systems

We study energy propagation in locally time-periodically driven disordered nonlinear chains. For frequencies inside the band of linear Anderson modes, three different regimes are observed with increasing driver amplitude: 1) below threshold, localized quasiperiodic oscillations and no spreading; 2) three different regimes in time close to threshold, with almost regular oscillations initially, weak chaos and slow spreading for intermediate times and finally strong diffusion; 3) immediate spreading for strong driving. The thresholds are due to simple bifurcations, obtained analytically for a single oscillator, and numerically as turning points of the nonlinear response manifold for a full chain. Generically, the threshold is nonzero also for infinite chains.