Subdiffusive energy transport and antipersistent correlations due to the scattering of phonons and discrete breathers.

Abstract

While there are many physical processes showing subdiffusion and some useful particle models for understanding the underlying mechanisms have been established, a systematic study of subdiffusive energy transport is still lacking. Here we present convincing evidence that, in the range of system size investigated, the energy subdiffusion can take place in a Hamiltonian lattice system with both harmonic nearest-neighbor and anharmonic long-range interactions. In particular, we show that the interaction range dependence of antipersistent energy-current correlations are relevant to this special type of energy subdiffusion. The underlying mechanisms are related to the various scattering processes of phonons and discrete breathers. Our results shed light on understanding the extremely slow energy transport.