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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids
Published on: December 4, 2017
Spontaneous pattern formation in driven nonlinear lattices
1Center for Nonlinear Studies and Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 and Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, I-40127, Bologna, Italy and INFM e Dipartimento di Fisi.
Abstract:
We demonstrate the spontaneous formation of spatial patterns in a damped, ac-driven cubic Klein-Gordon lattice. These patterns are composed of arrays of intrinsic localized modes characteristic for nonlinear lattices. We analyze the modulation instability leading to this spontaneous pattern formation. Our calculation of the modulational instability is applicable in one- and two-dimensional lattices; however, in the analyses of the emerging patterns we concentrate particularly on the two-dimensional case.
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In contrast, nonlinear systems do not inherently possess these properties. However, for small deviations around an operating point, a nonlinear system can often be approximated as linear.
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