A new kind of localized mode is proposed to occur in a pure anharmonic lattice. Its localization properties are similar to those of a localized mode for a force-constant defect in a harmonic lattice. These modes, which are thermally generated like vacancies but with much smaller activation energies, may appear at cryogenic temperatures in strongly anharmonic solids such as quantum crystals as well as in conventional solids.

• Received 7 April 1988

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.61.970