Excitation of gap discrete breathers in an A3B crystal with a flux of particles

Abstract

The generation of discrete breathers in an A₃B crystal has been modeled by the method of molecular dynamics using Pt₃Al as an example via the application of random unidirectional momenta, which simulate the action of a particle flux, to atoms. Two possible mechanisms of the excitation of gap discrete breathers with a soft type of nonlinearity have been revealed depending on the energy of particles in a flux. If a particle is able to transfer energy of more than 1.4 eV to the Al atom, a discrete breather can be excited by the only particle. Otherwise, a discrete breather is formed upon numerous particle–Al atom collisions, which are possible only at a sufficiently high density of particles, as each following particle must transfer its momentum to the Al atom before its oscillations provoked by previous particles attenuate.