Existence of localised normal modes in nonlinear lattices

Abstract: We prove the existence of exponentially localised and time-periodic solutions in general nonlinear Hamiltonian lattice systems. Like normal modes, these localised solutions are characterised by collective oscillations at the lattice sites with a uniform time-dependence. The proof of existence uses the comparison principle for differential equations to demonstrate that at each lattice site every half of the fundamental period of oscillations, contributing to localised solutions of the nonlinear lattice, is sandwiched between two oscillatory states of auxiliary linear equations. For soft (hard) on-site potentials the allowed frequencies of the in-phase (out-of-phase) localised periodic solutions lie below (above) the lower (upper) value of the linear spectrum of phonon frequencies. By varying a control parameter the exponential decay of the localised states can be tuned continuously.