Macroscopic behavior of microscopic oscillations in harmonic lattices via Wigner-Husimi transforms (Q2501169)

This paper deals with the problem of deriving a macroscopic continuum model from a microscopic discrete system. The set of coupled ordinary differential equations \[ M_V\frac{\partial^2 x_{\gamma}(t)}{\partial t^2} = - \sum_{\beta \in \Gamma}A_{\beta}x_{\gamma + \beta}(t) \qquad ( \, \gamma \in \Gamma \, ) \] is considered as a microscopic system on a crystal \(\Gamma\). Here \(\Gamma \subset {\mathbb R}^d\) is a Bravais lattice. The vector \(x_{\gamma}(t) \in{\mathbb R}^m\) contains the displacements of the several atoms at the lattice point \(\gamma \in \Gamma\). The mass matrix \( M \in {\mathbb R}^{m\times m}\) is symmetric and positive definite and the interaction matrices satisfy \(A_{\beta} = A_{-\beta}^T \, \) and \( \, | \!| A_{\beta}| \!| \leqq Ce^{-b| \beta| }\). For small \( \, \epsilon >0\), macroscopic variables \( \, y=\epsilon\gamma, \tau = \epsilon t \, \) and a field \(Z(\tau, y) \in {\mathbb R}^m \; ( (\tau, y) \in {\mathbb R}\times{\mathbb R}^d)\) which interpolates \(x_{\gamma}(t)\) are introduced. In the weak limit \(\epsilon \to 0\), the equation \[ M_V\frac{\partial^2 Z}{\partial \tau^2} + {\mathcal A}_0Z = 0 \] is derived, where \({\mathcal A}_0\) is a second order differential operator with respect to \(y\). The author also deals with local energy density, which can be described by generalization of the Wigner-Husimi measure in the weak limit. Several examples and comparison to Whitham's modulation equation are given by way of illustration.