Heat perturbations spreading in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-$\beta$ system with next-nearest-neighbor coupling: Competition between phonon dispersion and nonlinearity

Abstract

We employ the heat perturbations correlation function to study thermal transport in the one-dimensional (1D) Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-$\beta$ lattice with both nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor couplings. We find that such a system bears a peculiar phonon dispersion relation, and thus there exists a competition between phonon dispersion and nonlinearity that can strongly affect the heat correlation function' shape and scaling property. Specifically, for small and large anharmoncity, the scaling laws are ballistic and superdiffusive types, respectively, which are in good agreement with the recent theoretical predictions; whereas in the intermediate range of the nonlinearity, we observe an unusual multiscaling property characterized by a \emph{nonmonotonic} delocalization process of the central peak of the heat correlation function. To understand this multiscaling laws, we also examine the momentum perturbations correlation function and find a transition process with the same turning point of the anharmonicity as that shown in the heat correlation function. This suggests coupling between the momentum transport and the heat transport, in agreement with the theoretical arguments of mode cascade theory.