  We investigate the local and global dynamics of two 1-Dimensional (1D)
Hamiltonian lattices whose inter-particle forces are derived from non-analytic
potentials. In particular, we study the dynamics of a model governed by a
"graphene-type" force law and one inspired by Hollomon's law describing
"work-hardening" effects in certain elastic materials. Our main aim is to show
that, although similarities with the analytic case exist, some of the local and
global stability properties of non-analytic potentials are very different than
those encountered in systems with polynomial interactions, as in the case of 1D
Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou (FPUT) lattices. Our approach is to study the motion
in the neighborhood of simple periodic orbits representing continuations of
normal modes of the corresponding linear system, as the number of particles $N$
and the total energy $E$ are increased. We find that the graphene-type model is
remarkably stable up to escape energy levels where breakdown is expected, while
the Hollomon lattice never breaks, yet is unstable at low energies and only
attains stability at energies where the harmonic force becomes dominant. We
suggest that, since our results hold for large $N$, it would be interesting to
study analogous phenomena in the continuum limit where 1D lattices become
strings.
