Graduate School in Nonlinear Science

Sponsored by the Danish Research Academy

MIDIT                               OFD                           CATS
Modelling, Nonlinear Dynamics       Optics and Fluid Dynamics     Chaos and Turbulence Studies
and Irreversible Thermodynamics     Risø National Laboratory      Niels Bohr Institute and 
Technical University of Denmark     Building 128                  Department of Chemistry
Building 321                        P.O. Box 49                   University of Copenhagen 
DK-2800 Lyngby                      DK-4000 Roskilde              DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø
Denmark                             Denmark                       Denmark

Abstract: In the last few years numerous studies have been devoted to intrinsic localized modes in nonlinear lattices because they provide examples of localization that does not require disorder. The properties of ``discrete breathers'' as exact solutions of these nonlinear lattices are now well understood, but this is not the case for the properties of nonlinear localization and energy relaxation in thermalized lattices. In biological molecules such as DNA, where large amplitude nonlinear motions are essential for function, temporary deviations from energy equipartition could play an important role.
After a brief introduction to intrinsic localized modes, the talk will address the following questions:

• does nonlinear localization survive in the presence of a thermal bath and how can we characterize it?
  
  
• what is the origin of localization and how do discrete breathers contribute to it?
  
  
• Can we observe nonlinear localization in an experiment?