  We study theoretically spectrum of radial vibrational modes in composite
metal nanostructures such as bimetallic core-shell particles and metal
nanoshells with dielectric core in an environment. We calculate frequencies and
damping rates of fundamental (breathing) modes for these nanostructures along
with those of two higher-order modes. For metal nanoshells, we find that the
breathing mode frequency is always lower than the one for solid particles of
the same size, while the damping is higher and increases with reduction of the
shell thickness. We identify two regimes that can be characterized as weakly
damped and overdamped vibrations in the presence of external medium. For
bimetalllic particles, we find periodic dependence of frequency and damping
rate on the shell thickness with period determined by mode number. For both
types of nanostructures, the frequency of higher modes is nearly independent of
the environment, while the damping rate shows strong sensitivity to outside
medium.
