Two-dimensional discrete gap breathers in a two-dimensional diatomic β Fermi-Pasta-Ulam lattice

We study the existence of two-dimensional discrete breathers in a two-dimensional face-centred square lattice consisting of alternating light and heavy atoms, with nearest-neighbour coupling containing quartic soft or hard nonlinearity. This study is focused on two-dimensional breathers with frequency in the gap that separates the acoustic and optical bands of the phonon spectrum. We demonstrate the possibility of existence of two-dimensional gap breathers by using the numerical method, the local anharmonicity approximation and the rotating wave approximation. We obtain six types of two-dimensional gap breathers, i.e., symmetric, mirror-symmetric and asymmetric, no matter whether the centre of the breather is on a light or a heavy atom. © 2008 Chinese Physical Society and IOP Publishing Ltd.