In the present work, we study wave phenomena in strongly nonlinear lattices. Such lattices are characterized by the absence of classical linear waves. We demonstrate that compactons – strongly localized solitary waves with tails decaying faster than exponential – exist and that they play a major role in the dynamics of the system under consideration. We investigate compactons in different physical setups. One part deals with lattices of dispersively coupled limit cycle oscillators which find various applications in natural sciences such as Josephson junction arrays or coupled Ginzburg-Landau equations. Another part deals with Hamiltonian lattices. Here, a prominent example in which compactons can be found is the granular chain. In the third part, we study systems which are related to the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation describing, for example, coupled optical wave-guides or the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices. Our investigations are based on a numerical method to solve the traveling wave equation. This results in a quasi-exact solution (up to numerical errors) which is the compacton. Another ansatz which is employed throughout this work is the quasi-continuous approximation where the lattice is described by a continuous medium. Here, compactons are found analytically, but they are defined on a truly compact support. Remarkably, both ways give similar qualitative and quantitative results. Additionally, we study the dynamical properties of compactons by means of numerical simulation of the lattice equations. Especially, we concentrate on their emergence from physically realizable initial conditions as well as on their stability due to collisions. We show that the collisions are not exactly elastic but that a small part of the energy remains at the location of the collision. In finite lattices, this remaining part will then trigger a multiple scattering process resulting in a chaotic state. / In der hier vorliegenden Arbeit werden Wellenphänomene in stark nichtlinearen Gittern untersucht. Diese Gitter zeichnen sich vor allem durch die Abwesenheit von klassischen linearen Wellen aus. Es wird gezeigt, dass Kompaktonen – stark lokalisierte solitäre Wellen, mit Ausläufern welche schneller als exponentiell abfallen – existieren, und dass sie eine entscheidende Rolle in der Dynamik dieser Gitter spielen. Kompaktonen treten in verschiedenen diskreten physikalischen Systemen auf. Ein Teil der Arbeit behandelt dabei Gitter von dispersiv gekoppelten Oszillatoren, welche beispielsweise Anwendung in gekoppelten Josephsonkontakten oder gekoppelten Ginzburg-Landau-Gleichungen finden. Ein weiterer Teil beschäftigt sich mit Hamiltongittern, wobei die granulare Kette das bekannteste Beispiel ist, in dem Kompaktonen beobachtet werden können. Im dritten Teil werden Systeme, welche im Zusammenhang mit der Diskreten Nichtlinearen Schrödingergleichung stehen, studiert. Diese Gleichung beschreibt beispielsweise Arrays von optischen Wellenleitern oder die Dynamik von Bose-Einstein-Kondensaten in optischen Gittern. Das Studium der Kompaktonen basiert hier hauptsächlich auf dem numerischen Lösen der dazugehörigen Wellengleichung. Dies mündet in einer quasi-exakten Lösung, dem Kompakton, welches bis auf numerische Fehler genau bestimmt werden kann. Ein anderer Ansatz, der in dieser Arbeit mehrfach verwendet wird, ist die Approximation des Gitters durch ein kontinuierliches Medium. Die daraus resultierenden Kompaktonen besitzen einen im mathematischen Sinne kompakten Definitionsbereich. Beide Methoden liefern qualitativ und quantitativ gut übereinstimmende Ergebnisse. Zusätzlich werden die dynamischen Eigenschaften von Kompaktonen mit Hilfe von direkten numerischen Simulationen der Gittergleichungen untersucht. Dabei wird ein Hauptaugenmerk auf die Entstehung von Kompaktonen unter physikalisch realisierbaren Anfangsbedingungen und ihre Kollisionen gelegt. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Wechselwirkung nicht exakt elastisch ist, sondern dass ein Teil ihrer Energie an der Position der Kollision verharrt. In endlichen Gittern führt dies zu einem multiplen Streuprozess, welcher in einem chaotischen Zustand endet.

This work examines problems in the statics and traveling wave propagation on uniform elastic rods with constant curvature and torsion, i.e. a straight rod and a helical rod. The first set of problems concerns planar traveling loop-like waves on intrinsically straight rods. It is shown that loops with compact support can exist on homogeneous rods with a nonlinear constitutive relation, where the strain-energy density contains a quartic term. Next, the effect of heterogeneity in the material properties on the shape of the loop is examined using a homogenization method. The second set of problems deals with a system consisting of a helical spring with a force and a torque applied along the helix axis. First, an overview is presented of problems of finding the stresses given the strains, or vice-versa, assuming that the elastic parameters of the spring are known. Then, the inverse problem is examined, where both stresses and strains are measured, and optimal elastic parameters within the linear consitutive model are sought. Various forms of measured strains are considered. Finally, the special problem with zero axial torque is considered, and criteria when the spring overwinds with a tensile axial force applied are established.

In the mid-1920s, the great Albert Einstein proposed that at extremely low temperatures, a gas of bosonic particles will enter a new phase where a large fraction of them occupy the same quantum state. This state would bring many of the peculiar features of quantum mechanics, previously reserved for small samples consisting only of a few atoms or molecules, up to a macroscopic scale. This is what we today call a Bose-Einstein condensate. It would take physicists almost 70 years to realize Einstein's idea, but in 1995 this was finally achieved. The research on Bose-Einstein condensates has since taken many directions, one of the most exciting being to study their behavior when they are placed in optical lattices generated by laser beams. This has already produced a number of fascinating results, but it has also proven to be an ideal test-ground for predictions from certain nonlinear lattice models. Because on the other hand, nonlinear science, the study of generic nonlinear phenomena, has in the last half century grown out to a research field in its own right, influencing almost all areas of science and physics. Nonlinear localization is one of these phenomena, where localized structures, such as solitons and discrete breathers, can appear even in translationally invariant systems. Another one is the (in)famous chaos, where deterministic systems can be so sensitive to perturbations that they in practice become completely unpredictable. Related to this is the study of different types of instabilities; what their behavior are and how they arise. In this thesis we compare classical and quantum mechanical nonlinear lattice models which can be applied to BECs in optical lattices, and also examine how classical nonlinear concepts, such as localization, chaos and instabilities, can be transfered to the quantum world.