NORMAL MODES OF THE FERMI-PASTA-ULAM-TSINGOU

SYSTEM

In this note, we will derive the normal modes of the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou

(FPUT) system. The quadratic part of the FPUT Lagrangian is given by

N −1 N −1
1 X 2 1 X 2
L= q̇k − (qk+1 − qk ) with q0 = qN = 0. (1)
2 2
k=1 k=0

Since q0 = qN = 0, we try the following ansatz for the normal modes:

 πkl 
(l)
Qk = N Al cos(ωl t + δl ) sin ,
N
 πkl 
≡ N Al (t) sin , l = 1, . . . , N − 1. (2)
N

Here, l = 1, . . . , N − 1 labels the different normal modes. ωl is the normal mode

frequency and Al and δl are the amplitude and initial phase angle respectively. N

is a normalization factor to be determined. Substituting Eq. (2) into Eq. (1), we

get:

N −1 N −1
X 1 2 1 X  πkl 
q̇k = N 2 Ȧ2l (t) sin2 ,
2 2 N
k=1 k=1
N −1
1 2 2 2 2 X  πkl 
= N ωl Al sin (ωl t + δl ) sin2 , (3)
2 N
k=1
N −1  −1
 πl 2 NX
1 X 2 1 2 2  πkl 
(qk+1 − qk ) = N Al (t) 2 sin cos2 . (4)
2 2 2N N
k=0 k=0

Date: August 23rd , 2023.

1
2 NORMAL MODES OF THE FERMI-PASTA-ULAM-TSINGOU SYSTEM

The sums can be carried out as follows: Using cos2 x = (1+cos 2x)/2, sin2 x = (1−

cos 2x)/2, we can write

N −1 N −1 2πlk
X  πkl  X 1 + Re ei N N
cos2 = = , (5)
N 2 2
k=0 k=0
N −1  πkl  N −1  πkl  N −1   πkl 
X
2
X
2
X
2 N
sin = sin = 1 − cos = . (6)
N N N 2
k=1 k=0 k=0

Hence,

−1 N −1
N
" #
1 2 1 X
  πl 2
2N
X 2 2 2
q̇ − (qk+1 − qk ) = N Ȧl (t) − Al (t) 2 sin . (7)
2 k 2 4 2N
k=1 k=0

p
Choosing N = 2/N and ωl = 2 sin(πl/2N ), we end up with

1 2 1
L= Ȧ (t) − ωl2 A2l (t). (8)
2 l 2

The most general displacement qk (t) can be constructed as a linear combination of

(l)
the Qk ’s, namely
r N −1
2 X  πkl 
qk (t) = Al (t) sin . (9)
N N
l=1

Since the ωl , l = 1, . . . , N − 1 are non-degenerate, the different normal modes are

orthogonal. Hence, substituting the above equation into Eq. (1), we end up with

N −1  
X 1 2 1 2 2
L= Ȧ (t) − ωl Al (t) . (10)
2 l 2
l=1