Envelope solitons on anharmonic damped atomic chains.

ABSTRACT

We investigate the influence of dissipation on envelope solitons on anharmonic chains. We consider both Stokes and hydrodynamical damping and derive the evolution equations for the envelope in both the continuum and the quasi-continuum approximation of the chain. We introduce an appropriate collective variable ansatz for the envelope in order to describe the effect of damping on the soliton shape. We derive ordinary differential equations for the evolution of the three collective variables amplitude, width, and chirp which describe the spatial modulation of the envelope. The analytical results are in good agreement with the simulations of the discrete system for high-energy excitations on the chain. Our results derived from the quasi-continuum approximation show significant improvements compared to the continuum approximation.