Flat bands and compactons in mechanical lattices

Local configurational symmetry in lattice structures may give rise to stationary, compact solutions, even in the absence of disorder and nonlinearity. These compact solutions are related to the existence of flat dispersion curves (bands). Nonlinearity can destabilize such compactons. One common flat-band-generating system is the one-dimensional cross-stitch model, in which compactons were shown to exist for the photonic lattice with Kerr...