The inhomogeneous Fermi-Pasta-Ulam chain, a case study of the 1:2:3 resonance

A 4-particles chain with different masses represents a natural generalization of the classical Fermi-Pasta-Ulam chain. It is studied by identifying the mass ratios that produce prominent resonances. This is a technically complicated problem as we have to solve an inverse problem for the spectrum of the corresponding linearized equations of motion. In the case of such an inhomogeneous periodic chain with four particles each mass ratio determines a frequency ratio for the quadratic part of the Hamiltonian. Most prominent frequency ratios occur but not all. In general we find a one-dimensional variety of mass ratios for a given frequency ratio.

A detailed study is presented of the resonance 1:2:3. A small cubic term added to the Hamiltonian leads to a dynamical behaviour that shows a difference between the case that two opposite masses are equal and a striking difference with the classical case of four equal masses. For two equal masses and two different ones the normalized system is integrable and chaotic behaviour is small-scale. In the transition to four different masses we find a Hamiltonian-Hopf bifurcation of one of the normal modes leading to complex instability and Shilnikov-Devaney bifurcation. The other families of short-periodic solutions can be localized from the normal forms together with their stability characteristics. For illustration we use action simplices and examples of behaviour with time.