Dynamical chaos in the integrable Toda chain induced by time discretization

Abstract

We use the Toda chain model to demonstrate that numerical simulation of integrable Hamiltonian dynamics using time discretization destroys integrability and induces dynamical chaos. Specifically, we integrate this model with various symplectic integrators parametrized by the time step τ and measure the Lyapunov time TΛ (inverse of the largest Lyapunov exponent Λ). A key observation is that TΛ is finite whenever τ is finite but diverges when τ→0. We compare the Toda chain results with the nonintegrable Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou chain dynamics. In addition, we observe a breakdown of the simulations at times TB≫TΛ due to certain positions and momenta becoming extremely large (“Not a Number”). This phenomenon originates from the periodic driving introduced by symplectic integrators and we also identify the concrete mechanism of the breakdown in the case of the Toda chain.