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We consider a chain of torsionally-coupled, planar pendula shaken horizontally by an external sinusoidal driver. It has been known that in such a system, theoretically modeled by the discrete sine-Gordon equation, intrinsic localized modes, also known as discrete breathers, can exist. Recently, the existence of multifrequency breathers via subharmonic driving has been theoretically proposed and numerically illustrated by Xu et al. (2014) [21] . In this paper, we verify this prediction experimentally. Comparison of the experimental results to numerical simulations with realistic system parameters (including a Floquet stability analysis), and wherever possible to analytical results (e.g. for the subharmonic response of the single driven–damped pendulum), yields good agreement. Finally, we report the period-1 and multifrequency edge breathers which are localized at the open boundaries of the chain, for which we have again found good agreement between experiments and numerical computations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss the existence of breathers and of energy thresholds for their formation in DNLS lattices with linear and nonlinear impurities. In the case of linear impurities, we present some new results concerning important differences between the attractive and repulsive impurity which is interplaying with a power nonlinearity. These differences concern the coexistence or the existence of staggered and unstaggered breather profile patterns. We also distinguish between the excitation threshold (the positive minimum of the power observed when the dimension of the lattice is greater or equal to some critical value) and explicit analytical lower bounds on the power (predicting the smallest value of the power a discrete breather one-parameter family), which are valid for any dimension. Extended numerical studies in one-, two- and three-dimensional lattices justify that the theoretical bounds can be considered as thresholds for the existence of the frequency parameterized families. The discussion reviews and extends the issue of the excitation threshold in lattices with nonlinear impurities while lower bounds, with respect to the kinetic energy, are also discussed for travelling waves in FPU periodic lattices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the properties of moving breathers in a bent DNA model with short range interaction, due to the stacking of the base pairs, and long range interaction, due to the finite dipole moment of the bonds within each base pair. We show that the movement of a breather is hindered by the bending of the chain analogously to a particle in a potential barrier. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• We examine -experimentally and numerically- a two-dimensional nonlinear driven electrical lattice with honeycomb structure. • We identify discrete breathers existing in the bulk and at the boundaries, either along the arm-chair or the zig-zag edges. • Edge-localized breathers near the Dirac-point frequency while driving homogeneously the lattice subharmonically. • This work can represent a starting point towards research of the interplay of nonlinearity and topology in a tractable system. We examine - both experimentally and numerically - a two-dimensional nonlinear driven electrical lattice with honeycomb structure. Drives are considered over a range of frequencies both outside (below and above) and inside the band of linear modes. We identify a number of discrete breathers both existing in the bulk and also (predominantly) ones arising at the domain boundaries, localized either along the arm-chair or along the zig-zag edges. The types of edge-localized breathers observed and computed emerge in distinct frequency bands near the Dirac-point frequency of the dispersion surface while driving the lattice subharmonically (in a spatially homogeneous manner). These observations/computations can represent a starting point towards the exploration of the interplay of nonlinearity and topology in an experimentally tractable system such as the honeycomb electrical lattice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]