Dynamical chaos in nonlinear Schr\"odinger models with subquadratic power nonlinearity

Abstract

We devise an analytical method to deal with a class of nonlinear Schr\"odinger lattices with random potential and subquadratic power nonlinearity. An iteration algorithm is proposed based on multinomial theorem, using Diophantine equations and a mapping procedure onto a Cayley graph. Based on this algorithm, we were able to obtain several hard results pertaining to asymptotic spreading of the nonlinear field beyond a perturbation theory approach. In particular, we show that the spreading process is subdiffusive and has complex microscopic organization involving both long-time trapping phenomena on finite clusters and long-distance jumps along the lattice consistent with L\'evy flights. The origin of the flights is associated with the occurrence of degenerate states in the system; the latter are found to be a characteristic of the subquadratic model. The limit of quadratic power nonlinearity is also discussed and shown to result in a delocalization border, above which the field can spread to long distances on a stochastic process and below which it is Anderson localized similarly to a linear field.